Marriage and Children
Brabourne married Penelope Meredith Eastwood (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, 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 3 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 cancer.
Read more about this topic: Norton Knatchbull, 8th Baron Brabourne
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and/or children:
“Our home has been nothing but a play-room. I’ve been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child. And the children have been my dolls in their turn. I liked it when you came and played with me, just as they liked it when I came and played with them. That’s what our marriage has been, Torvald.”
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)
“she gives her children neither sense nor money
Who slouch arouond the world with a gesture and a brogue
And a faggot of useless memories.”
—Louis MacNeice (1907–1963)