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David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon

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The Right Honourable

The Earl of Snowdon
Snowdon in the procession to the lying in state of his aunt Elizabeth II in 2022
BornDavid Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones
(1961-11-03) 3 November 1961 (age 63)
Clarence House, London, England
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1993; sep. 2020)​
Issue
FatherAntony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon
MotherPrincess Margaret of the United Kingdom
OccupationEntrepreneur
EducationBedales School

David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (born 3 November 1961), styled as Viscount Linley until 2017 and known professionally as David Linley, is a member of the British royal family, an English furniture maker, honorary chairman of the auction house Christie's UK,[1] and with his sister, Lady Sarah Chatto, maternal first cousin of King Charles III. He is the only son of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, and a grandson of King George VI. When he was born, he was 5th in the line of succession to the British throne; as of May 2023, he is 25th, and the first person who is not a descendant of Queen Elizabeth II.

Early life and education

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.[2][3][4] His godparents were his aunt Queen Elizabeth II, Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, Patrick Plunket, 7th Baron Plunket, Lord Rupert Nevill, and Simon Phipps.[2]

At the age of five, Linley began lessons in the Buckingham Palace schoolroom with his cousin Prince Andrew.[5] He went to several independent schools: first, to Gibbs Pre-Preparatory School in Kensington in London, now known as Collingham College.[6] Followed by the pre-preparatory section of Ashdown House School, East Sussex, then on to Millbrook House School, near Abingdon, in Oxfordshire,[7] 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.[8]

He has one full sister, Lady Sarah Chatto (née Armstrong-Jones), and two paternal half-sisters, Lady Frances von Hofmannsthal (née Armstrong-Jones) and Polly Fry.[9] He also has a half-brother, Jasper Cable-Alexander, son of his father and Melanie Cable-Alexander, an editor at Country Life magazine.[citation needed]

Professional life

Linley store in Burlington Arcade, London, 2015

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.[10] His work is sold in retail stores in Belgravia, Harrods, and overseas, including the Bespoke Collection.[11] 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;[12] he thereby lost control of the company.[13]

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.[10] In 2015, his position was changed to honorary chairman of Christie's EMERI (Europe, Middle East, Russia, and India).[14]

Linley dabbled in the restaurant business with his friend and second cousin Patrick Lichfield; they established a restaurant called Deals in Chelsea, London.[2][15] 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.[2]

Candidacy for the House of Lords

Linley's father was originally a member of the House of Lords by virtue of his being granted a peerage. When the House of Lords was reformed in 1999 and most hereditary peers lost their seats, he was given a life peerage. An offer of a life peerage was made to all hereditary peers of the first creation (those for whom a peerage was originally created, as opposed to those who inherited a peerage from an ancestor) at that time. The second earl, accordingly, upon his father's death in 2017 did not inherit a place in the House of Lords along with his new title, Lord Snowdon.

However, in 2018 he became a candidate in a by-election to fill a vacancy among the ranks of the crossbench peers.[16] Only hereditary peers are eligible to stand in this election, and only the 31 currently sitting in the Lords as crossbenchers are eligible to vote. Unlike other candidates, he did not write a statement accompanying his announcement of candidacy.[17] He later withdrew from consideration for the seat. Reportedly, his candidacy had "raised eyebrows" due to his relation to the royal family.[18]

Personal life and family

Pictured with his daughter in 2017

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.[19]

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.[20] Through her father, Stanhope descends from Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, one of the illegitimate children of Charles II of England.[21]

He and his wife have two children:

From 2000 until 2002, Linley, his wife and son lived at Kensington Palace with his mother, Princess Margaret, in her declining years.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24] 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.[24] Linley contacted the police. Strachan and McGuigan were arrested after showing their video footage to an undercover detective,[24] and at trial were sentenced to five years in prison.[25]

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.[26]

The family has three homes: a flat in Chelsea, London; a cottage on the Daylesford estate in Gloucestershire;[27] and the Château d'Autet[28] in the Luberon, Provence.

He and his wife separated in February 2020, and a spokesperson confirmed they are to obtain a divorce.[29]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

  • 3 November 1961 – 13 January 2017: Viscount Linley[30]
  • 13 January 2017 – present: The Right Honourable The Earl of Snowdon

Honours

Arms

Coat of arms of David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon
Notes
Aside from the earl's coronet displayed here, he is also entitled to display the coronet of a child of a daughter of the sovereign.[31]
Crest
A stag statant Gules attired collared and unguled Or between two arms embowed in armour the hands Proper each grasping a fleur-de-lis Or.
Escutcheon
Sable on a chevron Argent between in chief two fleurs-de-lis and in base an eagle displayed Or four pallets Gules.
Supporters
Dexter a griffin and sinister an eagle each with wings elevated and addorsed Or.[32]

Published works

  • Linley, David. Classical Furniture. Harry N. Abrams, 1993. ISBN 978-0810931886.
  • Linley, David. Extraordinary Furniture. Harry N. Abrams, 1996. ISBN 978-0810932579.
  • Linley, David. Design and Detail in the Home. Harry N. Abrams, 2000. ISBN 978-0810940536.
  • Linley, David; Charles Cator and Helen Chislett. The Enduring Beauty of Spectacular Furniture. The Monacelli Press, 2009. ISBN 978-1580932592.
  • Miller, Judith. Foreword by David Linley. World Styles from Classical to Contemporary. Dorling Kindersley, 2005. ISBN 978-0756613402.
  • Niagara Foundation. Introductions by Viscount Linley, Julian Smith, and Peter Strokes. Early Architecture of the Town and Township of Niagara. Dundurn Press, 2015. ISBN 978-1927371404.
  • Reginato, James. Foreword by Viscount Linley. Great Houses, Modern Aristocrats. Rizzoli, 2016. ISBN 978-0847848980.

References

  1. ^ "Viscount Linley Appointed Hon. Chairman of Christie's EMERI". Christie's. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Aronson, Theo (2013). Princess Margaret: A Biography. Thistle Publishing.
  3. ^ "Princess Margaret and husband". Getty Images. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  4. ^ de Courcy, Anne. "The Princess and the Photographer". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015.
  5. ^ Viscount Linley Publisher: Mandy's Royalty. Org. retrieved 22 May 2013.
  6. ^ Viscount Linley in school uniform, Gibbs School, Kensington, London, 4 October 1968. Publisher: Heritage Images. Com. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  7. ^ Archive - Tuesday, 6 May 2003 - Prep school set to close Publisher:The Oxford Mail. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Architecture: The school that got lost in the woods - Peter Dunn on". 12 January 1994.
  9. ^ Reporter, Andrew Alderson, Chief (31 May 2008). "Lord Snowdon, his women, and his love child". Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b "David Linley appointed chairman of Christie's UK" (PDF) (Press release). Christie's. 3 November 2006.
  11. ^ Schneider, Sara (February 2012). "Northern California Weekend" (PDF). Sunset: 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  12. ^ White, Anna (5 April 2012). "David Linley loses control of furniture business". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  13. ^ Woods, Judith (3 July 2012). "Viscount Linley: 'Sure, I wheel and deal.'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  14. ^ "Corporate Announcements". Press Archive. Christie's website. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  15. ^ "The Earl of Lichfield (obituary)". The Daily Telegraph. 12 November 2005. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  16. ^ "Crossbench hereditary peers' by-election" (PDF). House of Lords. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Queen's nephew seeks election to Lords". BBC News. 19 June 2018.
  18. ^ Elgot, Jessica (4 July 2018). "Earl of Devon elected to the Lords in a poll of his hereditary peers". The Guardian.
  19. ^ Higham, Nick (14 September 2012). "Analysis: The Royal Family's history of legal action". BBC. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  20. ^ Green, Michelle. "Windsor Knot". People. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  21. ^ Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 1796. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  22. ^ Syal, Rajeev (10 February 2002). "Children spent much of last years with mother". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  23. ^ Bates, Stephen (9 April 2002). "Grandsons hold vigil as public files past". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  24. ^ a b c May, Julia (November 2007). "Queen's nephew 'victim' of blackmail". The Age (Australia). Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  25. ^ Edwards, Richard (2 May 2008). "Royal blackmail plotters jailed for five years". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 31 December 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  26. ^ Walker, Tim (March 2012). "The Queen turns a page for Viscount Linley's son". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  27. ^ Tyzack, Anna (24 November 2011). "My perfect weekend: David Linley". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  28. ^ Purnell, Sonia (29 June 2003). "My passion for Provence". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 14 February 2011.
  29. ^ Mackelden, Amy (17 February 2020). "Princess Margaret's Son, the Earl of Snowdon, Is Getting Divorced". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  30. ^ "No. 53385". The London Gazette. 28 July 1993. p. 12599.
  31. ^ "Styles of the members of the British royal family Documents". Heraldica. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  32. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2019. p. 4406.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Armstrong-Jones.
David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon
Born: 3 November 1961
Lines of succession
Preceded by
Lucas Tindall
 Succession to the British throne
25th in line 		Succeeded by
Viscount Linley
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by as a member of the royal family
The Earl of Snowdon 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Earl of Snowdon
2017–present 		Incumbent
Heir apparent:
Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley
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