The 2nd Earl of Snowdon celebrates his birthday today,
Princess Margaret’s son is often seen showering his French girlfriend with love.
So will he be cosying up with her when he celebrates his 63rd birthday on Sunday next week?
The 2nd Earl of Snowdon David Armstrong-Jones, who is 25th in line to the throne, began his romance with Isabelle de la Bruyere in 2022.
His relationship with the art expert began two years after he split from his wife, Serena Stanhope, in 2020 after 27 years of marriage.
In September, Mr Armstrong-Jones was seen kissing Ms de la Bruyere’s cheek outside the Chiltern Firehouse hotel and restaurant in London.
The couple embraced and, at one point, she lovingly placed her hand on his cheek.
Mr Armstrong-Jones, who owns a bespoke furniture-making business, appears to be smitten with his French girlfriend and was also spotted kissing her in Mayfair earlier this year.
Born into royalty on November 3, 1961, he is the eldest child of Princess Margaret and photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones – the first Earl of Snowdon.
Mr Armstrong-Jones’s birth at Clarence House in London was celebrated with a toast from his father when he gathered doctors at his private suite. The Daily Mail reported that he said: ‘To my son. God bless him!’
He weighed 6lb 4oz and was born Viscount Linley. He succeeded to the Earl of Snowdon title after his father died in 2017.
A bulletin announcing his birth read: ‘The condition of Her Royal Highness and the baby is satisfactory.’
Visiting Royal Holloway College later that day, the Queen Mother told students: ‘The baby is a lovely little boy. I am very excited about it all. This has been a wonderful day for me to come and see you.’
The earl has a younger sister, Lady Sarah Chatto, 60, and the pair spent a lot of their childhood with royal relatives at Buckingham Palace.
Mr Armstrong Jones honed his creative skills at the School for Craftsmen in Wood at Parnham House in Beaminster, Dorset, in the 1980s.
In September 1982, the Mail reported how Princess Margaret attended an exhibition where her son was showing a sycamore and leather inlay cabinet he had crafted.
It was priced at £2,500 at the time and was ‘based on a design for storing Japanese kimonos’, Mr Armstrong-Jones said at the time.
He eventually opened his own furniture design company and built up a wealthy customer base and, at one point, his designs were stocked by Harrods.
Elton John and Mick Jagger are said to have been fans of his work.
The earl met Ms Stanhope after her father commissioned some furniture from him and they married in 1993 at St Margaret’s Church, which is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey.
Their wedding was attended by members of the Royal Family and his aunt, Queen Elizabeth II, was among the 650 guests.
The couple, who have two children, Charles and Margarita, announced their divorce in 2020. At the time, a spokesman said they had ‘amicably agreed that their marriage has come to an end’.
