David Armstrong-Jones

**David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon** (David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones; born November 3, 1961) is a member of the British royal family. He is the oldest child and only son of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. When he was born, he was fifth in the line of succession to the British throne now he is 25th.

He has an younger sister Lady Sarah Chatto (b.1964) and two paternal half-sisters, Lady Frances von Hofmannsthal (*née* Armstrong-Jones) and Polly Fry. He also has a half-brother, Jasper Cable-Alexander, son of his father and Melanie Cable-Alexander,

In 1993, David married the Hon. Serena Alleyne Stanhope. The couple had two children: Charles, Viscount Linley and Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones. He and his wife separated in February 2020, and a spokesperson confirmed they are to obtain a divorce

## Early Life

David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones was born on 3 November 1961, in Clarence House, London, the son of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. He was baptised on 19 December 1961 in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace. His godparents were his aunt Queen Elizabeth II, Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, Patrick Plunket, 7th Baron Plunket, Lord Rupert Nevill, and Simon Phipps

## Education

At the age of five, Linley began lessons in the Buckingham Palace schoolroom with his cousin Prince Andrew. He went to several independent schools: first, to Gibbs Pre-Preparatory School in Kensington in London, now known as Collingham College. Followed by the pre-preparatory section of Ashdown House School, East Sussex, then on to Millbrook House School, near Abingdon, in Oxfordshire, and finally to Bedales School, where he developed a passion for arts and crafts. From 1980 to 1982 he studied at Parnham House in the small town of Beaminster in Dorset, for craftsmen in wood

## Career

Linley opened a workshop in Dorking, where he designed and made furniture for three years before setting up his own company, David Linley Furniture Limited (now known as Linley), where he makes bespoke furniture, upholstery, and interior design products known for their neoclassical appearance and use of inlaid woods. He has written numerous books and lectured around the world. His work is sold in retail stores in Belgravia, Harrods, and overseas, including the Bespoke Collection. He borrowed from his company by causing it to make loans, acquiring some £3 million in debts, a situation eventually resolved by the sale of controlling shares for £4 million in 2012; he thereby lost control of the company.

On 1 December 2006, Linley took up the post of chairman of Christie's UK, having joined the board in 2005 as a non-executive director. In 2015, his position was changed to honorary chairman of Christie's EMERI (Europe, Middle East, Russia, and India).

Linley dabbled in the restaurant business with his friend and second cousin Patrick Lichfield; they established a restaurant called Deals in Chelsea, London. According to Princess Margaret's biographer, Theo Aronson, Linley had a flair for the networking aspect of business and was successful in getting people to come through the doors

## Personal Life

In 1990, Linley took legal action against the *Today* newspaper for an article accusing him of "rowdy behaviour in a pub". He was eventually awarded £30,000 damages.

On 8 October 1993, Linley 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 Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, one of the illegitimate children of Charles II of England.

He and his wife have two children:

* Charles Patrick Inigo Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (born 1 July 1999 at Portland Hospital in London), an Old Etonian who studied product design engineering at Loughborough University
* Lady Margarita Elizabeth Rose Alleyne Armstrong-Jones (born 14 May 2002 at Portland Hospital in London), a former student at St Mary's, Ascot and Tudor Hall School, Banbury, who is currently studying at Oxford Brookes University.

From 2000 until 2002, Linley, his wife and son lived at Kensington Palace with his mother, Princess Margaret, in her declining years. On 8 April 2002, Linley, 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 and 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 Viscount Linley came from the journalist Nicholas Davies. Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan tried to extort £50,000 from Linley in September by threatening to release video footage showing sex acts and cocaine use (allegedly by Linley and a male royal aide) on a mobile phone. Linley contacted the police. Strachan and McGuigan were arrested after showing their video footage to an undercover detective, and at trial were sentenced to five years in prison.

In 2011, Linley's daughter, Margarita Armstrong-Jones, was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. In 2012, his son, styled by courtesy as Viscount Linley since January 2017, was appointed by the Queen as a page of honour.

The family has three homes: a flat in Chelsea, London; a cottage on the Daylesford estate in Gloucestershire; and the Chateau d'Autet in the Luberon, Provence.

He and his wife separated in February 2020, and a spokesperson confirmed they are to obtain a divorce.

## Titles and succession

* November 3, 1961 - January 13, 2017: *Viscount Linley*
* January 13, 2017 - present: *The Right Honourable The Earl of Snowdon*

A month before he was born, his aunt Queen Elizabeth II, gave his father Antony the titles The Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley as well as the style of “The Right Honorable”. When David was born, as the heir to his father’s new earldom, he was styled as Viscount Linley as a courtesy.

Since 2017, after his father‘s death, David has been styled as “The Right Honorable The Earl of Snowdon”