Norton Knatchbull, 8th Baron Brabourne

Norton Louis Philip Knatchbull, 8th Baron Brabourne Bt. (born 8 October 1947), known until 2005 as Lord Romsey, is a British Peer.

Life and education

Brabourne was born in London as the eldest son of John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, and Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

Brabourne was educated at Gordonstoun School, Elgin, Moray, Scotland. He was subsequently educated at University of Kent in England.

With the death of his father on 23 September 2005, he became the 8th Baron Brabourne, of Brabourne in the County of Kent, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He also succeeded to the title of 17th Baronet Knatchbull, of Mersham Hatch in the County of Kent, in the Baronetage of England. He is the heir apparent to his mother's Earldom Mountbatten of Burma, which was created for his grandfather, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India.

He is a descendant of Queen Victoria.

Marriage and children

Brabourne married Penelope Meredith Eastwood^[1] (born 16 April 1953), a daughter of Reginald Wray Frank Eastwood, a self-made millionaire who began working life as a butcher at 15 and founded the Angus Steakhouse chain,^[2] and wife Marian Elizabeth Hood, on 20 October 1979 at Romsey Abbey, Romsey, in Hampshire, where his parents were married in 1946. The family home is Broadlands, also in Hampshire.

The wedding took place two months after the assassination of his grandfather, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, by an IRA bomb which also killed three others, including his youngest brother, Nicholas Knatchbull (1964–1979), and his grandmother, the Dowager Lady Brabourne (1897–1979).

The Brabournes are very close friends and relations of the British Royal Family, and Lord Brabourne is one of the six godparents of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and is himself a godchild of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Lady Brabourne competes in carriage-driving competitions alongside Prince Philip. Lord Brabourne is a first cousin, once removed, of Prince Philip and second cousin of Charles, Prince of Wales, and his siblings.

Lord and Lady Brabourne had three children; two have survived to adulthood:

• The Hon. Nicholas Louis Charles Norton Knatchbull (born 15 May 1981), his father's heir apparent
• The Hon. Alexandra Victoria Edwina Diana Knatchbull (born 5 December 1982)
• The Hon. Leonora Louise Marie Elizabeth Knatchbull (25 June 1986 – 22 October 1991). She died of kidney cancer, and is buried in the grounds of the family home, Broadlands; see Leonora Children's Cancer Fund. ^[3]

Titles from birth

• 8 October 1947 - 27 August 1979:The Honourable Norton Knatchbull
• 27 August 1979 - 23 September 2005: Lord Romsey
• 23 September 2005 - present:The Right Honourable The Lord Brabourne

Ancestry

References

• Marlene A. Eilers, Queen Victoria's Descendants (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987), page 184.
• http://www.broadlands.net/mountfs.htm
• mountbattenofburma.com - Tribute & Memorial web-site to Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
• http://www.sligoheritage.com/archmbatten.htm