Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexandra "Sacha" Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn is the wife of the current Duke of Abercorn and a sister of the Duchess of Westminster. She and her children (as well as her sister) are in the line of succession to the British Throne, 630th, as direct descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover.
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[edit] Royal ancestry
Both sisters and their ducal husbands are close to the British Royal Family, and are related distantly to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Their maternal grandmother Lady Wernher 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 of Merenberg, morganatic daughter of Prince Nicholas of Nassau (himself brother of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg by his wife, the younger daughter of Russia's greatest poet Alexander Pushkin. Lady Zia's sister Nadezhda (or "Nada") was wife of the George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, elder maternal uncle of Prince Philip. The Torby sisters were third cousins of the prince through their common ancestor Nicholas I. It is through their Russian grand ducal father that Alexandra, Duchess of Abercorn is descended from Sophia, Electress of Hanover.
The Duchess of Abercorn is a close friend of the Duke of Edinburgh today, and her sister the Duchess of Westminster is a godmother of Prince William of Wales. The Duke of Abercorn was himself closely related to the late Diana, Princess of Wales whose father was his first cousin.
[edit] Family
Alexandra Anastasia Phillips was born in Tucson, Arizona, USA, on February 27, 1946, the eldest daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Phillips and his wife, Georgina who was the elder daughter and co-heiress of Sir Harold Wernher, 3rd Bt, by his wife Countess Anastasia de Torby (later Lady Zia Wernher, CBE).
Her Grace, The Duchess of Abercorn is a direct descendant of the Russian Poet, Alexander Pushkin, as well as his African great-grandfather, Abram Petrovich Gannibal. He was Peter the Great's protégé.
On October 20, 1966, the twenty-year-old Alexandra Phillips married the Marquess of Hamilton (later Duke of Abercorn) in Westminster Abbey, elder son of the 4th Duke of Abercorn. They had three children:
- James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton (b. August 19, 1969)
- Lady Sophia Alexandra Hamilton (b. June 8, 1973)
- Lord Nicholas Edward Hamilton (b. July 5, 1979)
The Duchess and her family reside at Barons Court, near Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
[edit] Public roles
The Duchess is the founder of the Pushkin Prizes.
The Duchess is the Honorary Secretary of the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma & Transformation in Omagh, County Tyrone, site of a 1999 bombing that left 29 people dead (one of whom was pregnant with twins).
The Duchess is the House Patron of Abercorn House at Cambridge House Grammar School, Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
