Lady Sarah Chatto
Born
Sarah Frances Elizabeth Armstrong-Jones

(1964-05-01) 1 May 1964
Kensington Palace, London, England
Education
OccupationPainter
Spouse
​
(m. 1994)​
Children2
Parents
Family

Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto (née Armstrong-Jones; born 1 May 1964) is a member of the British royal family. She is the only daughter of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. She and her brother, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, are the only maternal first cousins of King Charles III. She is the youngest grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. At her birth, she was 7th in line to the British throne; as of May 2023, she is 28th. Though she does not undertake public duties, she frequently attends events and ceremonies with the wider royal family.

Early life and education

Sarah Armstrong-Jones was born on 1 May 1964[1] at Kensington Palace in London. She is the second child and only daughter of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. She was baptised in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace on 13 July 1964.

Lady Sarah is a godmother to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex,[2] Lady Rose Gilman, and Lady Louise Windsor.[3] She also has half-siblings on her father's side: Polly Fry (born 1960),[4] Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones (born 1979), and Jasper Cable-Alexander (born 1998).[5][6]

Lady Sarah and her brother, David, then Viscount Linley, grew up in the nursery of Kensington Palace, Apartment 10.[7][8] They were raised with a nanny called Verona Sumner, although their parents, especially their father, were comparatively hands-on (for the time), with their father teaching them to build things and be creative.[7]

Their parents' marriage was fractious; the couple formally separated when Sarah was 12 and divorced when she was 14. She and her brother spent weekends, depending on with which parent, at either Nymans or Royal Lodge.[7] Holidays were given to the royal estates at Sandringham and Balmoral, where Lady Sarah did a lot of landscape painting.[7]

Lady Sarah was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer. She accompanied her mother and brother on an official visit to China and Hong Kong in May 1987.[7]

She attended Bedales School, which she left with a single A level in Art.[7] She enrolled at the Camberwell School of Art.[9] She also studied art at the Royal Academy Schools.[9] She then spent two years in India with her father, where he was employed to photograph the production of A Passage to India.[7] The film's producer, her relative John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne (son-in-law of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma), gave her a job as an intern assisting the wardrobe department and studying wood gilding under her father's cousin Thomas Messel.[7] Returning to England, she enrolled in a two-year course in textile and fabric design at Middlesex Polytechnic (later renamed as Middlesex University).[10]

Professional life

Chatto has been exhibiting her work, always under the name Sarah Armstrong-Jones, at The Redfern Gallery since 1995.[11] Her work has won awards: the Winsor & Newton Prize in 1988 and the Creswick Landscape Prize in 1990.[11]

In 2004, she became vice president of the Royal Ballet, of which her mother had been president.[7][12]

Chatto does not undertake public duties and is not considered a "working royal". However, it has been reported that she was close to her aunt Queen Elizabeth II, being the queen's only niece. She is frequently seen attending public events such as jubilees and funerals, as well as semi-private royal family events such as the Sandringham Christmas service with her sons.[13]

Marriage and children

The arms of Lady Sarah, being her father's borne on a lozenge. She is also entitled to use the coronet of a child of a daughter of the sovereign in her arms.[14]

Lady Sarah met Daniel Chatto during her years in India with her father in the 1980s. Chatto was working on another British film, Heat and Dust.[15] He is from a theatrical family, the son of actor Tom Chatto (1920–1982) and the theatrical agent Ros Chatto (born Rosalind Joan Thompson; died 2012).[16] He proposed to her with a "vintage cluster ring."[17]

The couple married on 14 July 1994;[1] the Reverend Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans, officiated at the wedding, held at St Stephen's, Walbrook in the City of London. The bride's wedding gown was designed by Jasper Conran.[15] Her bridesmaids were all teenagers: her half-sister Lady Frances, Zara Phillips (daughter of her first cousin Princess Anne), and Tara Noble-Singh, a family friend.[15]

The couple have two sons:[18]

  • Samuel David Benedict Chatto (born 28 July 1996), 29th in the line of succession as of June 2023. He studied at Eton, read history of art at the University of Edinburgh, and works as a sculptor, based in West Sussex.[19] He also completed his yoga teacher training in India.[20]
  • Arthur Robert Nathaniel Chatto (born 5 February 1999), 30th in the line of succession, and a former page of honour to Queen Elizabeth II, his great-aunt, from 2009 to 2015. He initially attended Westminster Cathedral Choir School before going to Eton College. He then read geography at the University of Edinburgh, and at the same time worked as a personal trainer.[21][18] As of June 2022, he was serving with the Royal Marines.[22]

References

  1. 1 2 Wayne C. Thompson (20 July 2016). Western Europe 2016–2017. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-1-4758-2905-1.
  2. ↑ Smith, Terry; Thorpe-Tracey, Rosemary. "A Windsor War". People. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Announcement of the christening of Lady Louise Windsor". royal.uk. 7 April 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2004.
  4. ↑ Bloxham, Andy (31 May 2008). "Lord Snowdon fathered a secret love child just months before marrying Princess Margaret". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  5. ↑ Bearn, Emily (16 April 2003). "Still playing Peter Pan". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. ↑ Owens, Mitchell (27 July 1999). "Noticed: Blood Tells. So Does Burke's". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Aronson, Theo (2013). Princess Margaret: A Biography. Thistle Publishing.
  8. ↑ Their mother moved to 1A, currently occupied by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, after divorcing Snowdon, while Prince and Princess Michael of Kent took Apartment 10. This information is clearly stated in Theo Aronson's biography of Princess Margaret.
  9. 1 2 "Lady Sarah Chatto biography – Debrett's". Debrett's. Archived from the original on 9 August 2010.
  10. ↑ "Mother's pride in David and Sarah". Evening Standard. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  11. 1 2 "Sarah Armstrong-Jones". The Redfern Gallery. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ↑ "The Company". Birmingham Royal Ballet. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  13. ↑ Best, Chloe (19 September 2022). "Lady Sarah Chatto: Everything you need to know about the late Queen's niece". Hello. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  14. ↑ "Styles of the members of the British royal family Documents". Heraldica. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  15. 1 2 3 Green, Michelle. "An Artful Match". People. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  16. ↑ Walker, Tim (15 June 2012). "The Queen's niece Lady Sarah Chatto mourns the death of agent to the stars". The Telegraph.
  17. ↑ Chang, Mahalia (27 November 2017). "A Thorough History Of British Royal Engagement Rings". Harper's Bazaar Australia. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  18. 1 2 Coke, Hope (13 February 2020). "Introducing Samuel and Arthur Chatto: Princess Margaret's grandsons". Tatler. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  19. ↑ "The Queen's niece Lady Sarah Chatto celebrates special day after wedding anniversary". Hello Magazine. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  20. ↑ Foussianes, Chloe (8 January 2019). "Princess Margaret's Grandson Sam Chatto Completed His Yoga Teacher Training in India". Town & Country. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  21. ↑ Coke, Hope (8 June 2022). "Royal fans swoon over Princess Margaret's dashing Marine grandson at Jubilee service". Tatler. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  22. ↑ The Queen's Platinum Jubilee: A Service of Thanksgiving: 1:44:00
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