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Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn

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Her Grace
The Duchess of Abercorn
OBE
Personal details
Born
Alexandra Anastasia Phillips

(1946-02-27) 27 February 1946 (age 78)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1966)​
ChildrenJames Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton
Lady Sophia Hamilton
Lord Nicholas Hamilton
Parent(s)Harold Phillips
Georgina Wernher

Alexandra Anastasia "Sacha" Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, OBE (b. 27 February 1946, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.) is the wife of James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn.[1]

Royal ancestry

The Duchess of Abercorn and her children (as well as her sister, Natalia) are in the line of succession to the British throne as descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover. They are also descendants of the Russian author, Alexander Pushkin, as well as his African great-grandfather, Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who was both a tribal prince and a protégé of Peter the Great. It is through their Russian grand ducal father that Alexandra and Natalia are descended from Sophia, Electress of Hanover.

The sisters are related to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh: Their maternal grandmother was born Countess Anastasia de Torby (later Lady "Zia" Wernher), younger morganatic daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mihailovich of Russia (a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia) by his wife Countess Sophie von Merenberg, morganatic daughter of Prince Nikolaus of Nassau (himself brother of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg) by his wife Natalya Aleksandrovna, the younger daughter of Russia's most renowned poet, Pushkin.

Lady Zia's sister Countess Nadezhda de Torby (or "Nada") was the wife of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, elder maternal uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh. The Torby sisters were third cousins of the prince through their common ancestor, Tsar Nicholas I.

The Duchess of Abercorn is a close friend of the Duke of Edinburgh, and her sister, the Duchess of Westminster, is a godmother of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. The Duke of Abercorn was a first cousin of John, 8th Earl Spencer, father of Diana, Princess of Wales, through their mutual ancestor James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn.

She is the eldest daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Pedro Joseph Phillips (1909–1980) and his wife, Georgina Wernher (1919–2011).[1] Her younger sister is Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster. Her paternal grandparents were Col. Joseph Harold John Phillips and his wife Mary Mercedes Bryce, whose niece Janet Mercedes Bryce (daughter of Major Francis Bryce of Hamilton, Bermuda) married David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, son of Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, sister of Alexandra's grandmother.

Family of Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn
16. John Phillips
8. Joseph Edward John Phillips
17. Helen Jane
4. Joseph Harold John Phillips
18. Henry Thurnall
9. Maud Henrietta Thurnall
19. Eliza Tiptoff Phillips
2. Harold Phillips
20. John Bryce
10. John Pablo Bryce de Vivero
21. Gertrudis de Vivero Morales
5. Mary Mercedes Bryce
22. Pedro González de Candamo y Astorga
11. Mercedes González de Candamo Iriarte
23. Mercedes Iriarte y Ribera
1. Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn
24. Friedrich Augustus Wernher
12. Sir Julius Wernher, 1st Baronet
25. Elisabeth Weidenbusch
6. Sir Harold Wernher, 3rd Baronet
26. Jacob James Mankewicz
13. Alice Sedgwick Mankiewicz
27. Ada Susan Pigott
3. Georgina Wernher
28. Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia
14. Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia
29. Princess Cecilie of Baden
7. Countess Anastasia Mikhailovna de Torby
30. Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau
15. Countess Sophie von Merenberg
31. Natalya Aleksandrovna Pushkina

Siblings

Marriage

On 20 October 1966, Alexandra Anastasia Phillips married James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton (who in 1979, succeeded as the 5th Duke of Abercorn), son of James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn and Lady Mary Katherine Crichton, in Westminster Abbey. The Duke and Duchess of Abercorn have two sons and a daughter:

  • James Harold Charles Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton (born 19 August 1969),[1] who was married on 7 May 2004 at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, to Tanya Marie Nation (b. 1971), eldest daughter of Douglas Percy Codrington Nation, senior managing director of Bear Stearns (1942–2001) and his wife Barbara Anne Brookes. They have two children, James Alfred Nicholas Hamilton, styled Viscount Strabane (born 30 October 2005) and Lord Claud Douglas Harold Hamilton (b. 12 December 2007).
  • Lady Sophia Alexandra Hamilton (born 8 June 1973),[1] who was a model before 1996. She married British war journalist Anthony Loyd in 2002, but they divorced, without children, in 2005.
  • Lord Nicholas Edward Hamilton (born 5 July 1979). He married Tatiana Kronberg (born 1976), daughter of Evgeni Kronberg and Irinia Grichtchenko, on 30 August 2009 in New York.

The Duchess and her family reside at Baronscourt, near Drumquin, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Public roles

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Dewar, Peter Beauclerk (2001). Burke's landed gentry of Great Britain: together with members of the titled and non-titled contemporary establishment (19 ed.). Burke's Peerage. ISBN 978-0-9711966-0-5Template:Inconsistent citations{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  2. ^ "No. 58729". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 14 June 2008.
Preceded by
Charlotte Phillips
 Line of succession to the British throne Succeeded by
James, Marquess Hamilton
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