page_title: David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon
section_title: Personal life and family
hierarchical_section_title: David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon / Personal life and family
caption_attribution_description: English: Lady Margarita with her father at Sandringham in 2017.
context_page_description: David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, styled as Viscount Linley until 2017 and known professionally as David Linley, is an English furniture maker and a former chairman of the auction house Christie's UK. The son of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, he is therefore a nephew of Queen Elizabeth II, and a grandson of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. As of June 2020, he is 21st in the line of succession to the British throne, where he is the first person who is not a descendant of the Queen. At the time of his birth in 1961, he was fifth.
context_section_description: On 8 October 1993, Snowdon married the Hon. Serena Alleyne Stanhope (born 1 March 1970, Limerick, Ireland), daughter of Viscount Petersham (later the 12th Earl of Harrington) at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. There were 650 guests in attendance. Through her father, Stanhope descends from Charles II of England's illegitimate child, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton.
  Snowdon and his wife have two children:
  Charles Patrick Inigo Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (born 1 July 1999 at Portland Hospital in London), who is studying Product Design Engineering at Loughborough University
  Lady Margarita Elizabeth Rose Alleyne Armstrong-Jones (born 14 May 2002 at Portland Hospital in London), a jewellery maker.
  From 2000 until 2002, Snowdon, his wife and son lived at Kensington Palace with his mother, Princess Margaret, in her declining years. On 8 April 2002, Snowdon, along with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Earl of Wessex, "stood guard" at the lying-in-state of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. This Vigil of the Princes had taken place only once before, during the lying-in-state of George V in 1936.
  In October/November 2007, rumours circulated on the internet suggesting that a member of the British royal family was the victim of blackmail. The first confirmation that the royal in the extortion attempt was indeed Viscount Linley, as Snowdon was known at the time, came from the journalist Nicholas Davies. Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan tried to extort £50,000 from Snowdon in September by threatening to release video footage showing sex acts and cocaine use (allegedly by Snowdon and a male royal aide) on a mobile phone. Snowdon contacted the police. Strachan and McGuigan were arrested after showing their video footage to an undercover detective. Strachan and McGuigan were sentenced to five years in prison.
  In 2011, Snowdon's daughter, Margarita Armstrong-Jones, was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. In 2012, Snowdon's son, now styled by courtesy as Viscount Linley, was appointed by the Queen as a Page of Honour.
  The Snowdons have three homes: a flat in Chelsea, London; a cottage on the Daylesford estate in Gloucestershire; and the Chateau d'Autet in the Luberon, Provence.
  Snowdon's father, the 1st Earl of Snowdon, died on 13 January 2017 and the younger Snowdon inherited his titles, thus becoming the 2nd Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley.
  In February 2020, Snowdon and his wife separated and a spokesperson confirmed they will be getting a divorce.
caption: Pictured with his daughter in 2017
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