Meet our resident, Angela Petrina Lundgren

Living at The Somerset Lifestyle and Retirement Village in Somerset West, you meet the most interesting people. Today, we want to introduce you to one of our residents – Angela Petrina Lundgren (or ‘Mitzi’, as she prefers to be called).

‘If you live in Africa, you’re brought up in Africa, you’ve always got Africa in your blood. Slow down.”
– Angela Elizabeth Petrina

Mitzi has lived and worked all over this planet. After she was born on the island of Anglesey in the UK in early 1943, her family went to live with her grandparents, where she enjoyed a farming environment and paddocks for her pony. Her South African father, Petrus ‘Dutch’ Hugo, the son of a Victoria West farmer, was a highly decorated WW2 flying ace. He took part in the Battle of France and Britain, air battles over Dieppe, commanded a Wing in the Battle for Tunisia, and in the Battle for Italy. He was the youngest person ever to reach the rank of Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. His awards included the D.S.O., D.F.C. with 2 Bars, 1939-1945 Star with the “Battle of Britain Clasp”, Air Crew Europe Star with the “France and Germany” clasp, and Africa Star with the “North Africa 1942-43” Clasp, Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal, American Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Republic Croix de Guerre 1939-45 with Bronze Palme.

Dutch was so highly regarded by his superiors that when he requested General (later Field Marshall) Jan Smuts to consider becoming his daughter’s godfather, Jan Smuts readily agreed.

After Mitzi’s christening – (left to right) General Smuts & Mitzi, Angela and Denys Reitz.

After the war, her father returned to South Africa, but after applying for a farm, he moved to Tanganyika (Tanzania), where his family joined him. Sighted on the west side of Kilimanjaro, they developed the farm from virgin land but were regularly visited by wild animals, including elephants and lions, who periodically attacked their livestock. She absolutely loved growing up there. Her father acquired a plane to fly to Nairobi for supplies and spare parts for farm machinery. In quiet times on the farm, they flew to Dar es Salaam and Mafia Island for big game fishing. Mitzi was awarded certificates for her big game fishing prowess. Of course, Mitzi took to flying like a duck to water, beginning when she was only 11 years old. As a young lady, she completed a business admin course in Nairobi and did a lot of flying at Wilson Airport outside the city in her spare time. At only 18 years old, she flew solo for the first time.

Another delight at the time was completing a wonderful and adventurous trip with her father, flying from Tanzania to Switzerland in his small Cessna. They left on New Year’s Day, hopping from airport to airport through Egypt, North Africa, Gibraltar, Spain, and the South of France. It took two weeks to reach Switzerland, where they left the plane in Geneva to ski for a fortnight before returning via Italy and Crete, through Libya, and back to the farm.

Her career began working for a neighbour, David Read who was writing a book. Eventually, her career took her to London, which she hated. Too noisy, too cold, and too many people. She managed to get a transfer to the UAE, unusual for a single girl at the time, and stayed there for 18 years. Mitzi met her husband-to-be, a master mariner. They spent 18 months in Singapore, but when he was transferred to Nigeria, she went to stay in a house she had built in Cyprus. In 1994, they moved to South Africa, eventually settling in Montagu.

After her husband died in 2003, she moved to a house she built in Barrydale. An old Boyfriend from Tanzania contacted her in 2007 to say he was in South Africa, and after a weekend together in the Kruger Park, though having last seen him in 1963, the romance took off. He had a house in Spain, so they flitted back and forth from her house in Barrydale to his in Spain. They married in Worcester in 2017. He died only a few years later in 2020 at his house in Spain. Mitzi stayed there until 2023. Deciding she had had enough of Europe and aching for Africa, she moved back to South Africa and to The Somerset, her present home. She has two much younger sisters, one in Gordon’s Bay and the other in Knysna.

Mitzi is very happy at The Somerset. She loves South African wine – she has a good collection, and great coffee, and anyone wanting to chat is always welcome. At her front door is a plaque with all the places she’s stayed. Don’t be in a rush if you visit though, we have only touched on her interesting life.