Against the backdrop of her family’s historic home, Belvoir Castle, on Saturday, Lady Violet Manners celebrated her marriage to William James Lindesay-Bethune, also known as Viscount Garnock, in one of high society’s biggest weddings of 2025.
The happy couple were wed in a traditional church service before a lavish party on Saturday at the Manners family’s 15,000-acre ancestral pile in Leicestershire.
Lady Violet, 31, said ‘I do’ with Viscount Garnock, 33, in a service that brings together two of Britain’s most prominent aristocratic families together.
Ahead of this weekend’s ceremony, the eldest daughter of The Duke and Duchess of Rutland, David Manners, the 11th Duke of Rutland, and Emma Manners, had announced her engagement to colourful Scottish aristocrat William last summer in a post that read ‘I said “yes” to my Caledonian Cowboy’.
William is the son and heir of the 16th Earl of Lindsay, and is based both in Scotland and Texas in the U.S. He is also co-founder of a low and no alcohol spirits brand.
On Saturday, in bright sunshine, the couple were wed at St Mary The Virgin Church in Bottesford with the bride looking resplendent in a Phillipa Lepley couture gown.
Lady Violet wore a family heirloom for her big day, donning the diamond Rutland tiara, which has been part of her lineage for more than 300 years, and hasn’t been worn at a public occasion since the late 90s.
The 31-year-old bride wore her brunette hair pinned back, with a flowing veil behind the tiara.
The family diadem has carnation and fuschias, with diamond leaves – the last member of the family to wear it was Lady Theresa Manners on her wedding day in 1997 to Dr John Chipman.
Lady Violet’s bridal gown had puffed sleeves, and a delicate sheer panel under her ruffled neckline which was embroidered with symbols including stars and love hearts.
Meanwhile, the groom was attired in a kilt made from the red and green Lindsay family tartan, which he wore with a traditional sporran and a pale grey suit with a green and blue pattered tie.
He arrived at the church in true, characterful style, disembarking with family and friends from vintage red double decker Routemaster bus as he awaited his bride.
Acknowledging the groom’s Scottish heritage, a piper played the bride into the church.
Lady Violet arrived in a closed carriage, meanwhile, with her bridesmaids riding alongside her.
The bridesmaids’ stylish sartorial choices tipped a hat to the bride’s Christian name by wearing a pretty shade of violet.
They wore their hair tied back and adorned with flowers that co-ordinated with their dresses.
Amongst the bridesmaids were Lady Violet’s sisters, Eliza and Alice alongside Lady Violet’s close friend Devisha Kumari Singh.
Flower girls and page boys, who were dressed in light green satin knickerbockers, made up the rest of the bridal party.
The newlyweds were seen waving at guests and well-wishers as they made their way as man and wife from St Mary The Virgin Church back to Belvoir Castle.
Their respective sets of parents, the Duke and Duchess of Rutland and the Earl and Countess of Lindsay, James and Diana Lindesay-Bethune, looked overjoyed as they waved them off.
The two couples clearly have a solid friendship, with Diana Lindesay-Bethune, Countess of Lindsay and mother-of-the-groom, and father-of-the-bride David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland, striding in to the church ceremony together.
Mother-of-the-bride Emma Manners, the Duchess of Rutland, 61, who is battling breast cancer after a shock diagnosis in the spring, looked elegant in a jacquard coat and dress in a shade of light pink, and a statement tilted hat.
She enjoyed a warm hug with one of Lady Violet’s flower girls as the wedding party emerged from the church.
The cream of high society made up the guests at the stately home nuptials, with Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, Lady Sabrina Percy and Princess Alexandra’s granddaughter Flora Vesterberg, all in attendance.
The 11th Duke of Rutland’s ancestors have resided for almost 1,000 years at Belvoir Castle so it was unlikely the couple would have deviated from the 360-room estate.
The historic property was used as Windsor Castle in Netflix series The Crown.
