Lady Sarah Chatto: Queen Elizabeth II Beloved Niece – The only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II’s late sister, Princess Margaret, Lady Sarah is now 27th in line to the throne
While the most familiar senior royals have been hyper-visible in recent days, Queen Elizabeth II’s death has also seen some of the lesser-known Royal Family members step into the spotlight. One among them is her niece, Lady Sarah Chatto, who was present for the service when Her Majesty’s coffin was received at Westminster Hall yesterday, and will no doubt appear again at the Queen’s funeral on Monday.
Born in 1964, Lady Sarah is the second child and only daughter of the Queen’s younger sister, Princess Margaret, and her then-husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones (who became the 1st Earl of Snowdon after his marriage). As well as having close blood ties to prominent royals (Lady Sarah herself is 27th in line to the throne) the affection among them is apparent from the fact that she is a godmother to both Prince Harry and Lady Louise Windsor, two of the Queen’s grandchildren.
Lady Sarah Chatto: Queen Elizabeth II Beloved Niece
Like Princes William and Harry, Sarah and her brother David, then Viscount Linley, spent much of their childhood at Kensington Palace. Although they had a nanny, as is customary in the Royal Family, their parents were said to be a strong presence in their lives. Lord Snowdon, a bohemian society photographer, helped foster their creativity in art and design, with Lady Sarah and her brother, now the 2nd Earl of Snowdon, going on to become an artist and furniture makers, respectively.
Princess Margaret’s divorce took place when Sarah was 14, following two turbulent years of separation between her parents. Family holidays to the royal estates of Sandringham and Balmoral must have provided some solace for the budding young artist, however, where Sarah would spend time with her cousins and enjoy the outdoors, honing her talents in landscape painting.
Despite living largely out of the public eye, Lady Sarah stepped into the spotlight in 1973, when she was a nine-year-old bridesmaid for her cousin, Princess Anne at her wedding to Captain Mark Phillips; and again for that of King Charles III (then Prince Charles), and the late Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981. She also joined her mother and brother for an official royal trip in 1987, when Princess Margaret visited Hong King with her two children.
Princess Margaret With Her Children David, Sarah, And Their Nanny Mabel Anderson
After taking art A-level at Bedales School in Hampshire, Sarah undertook a foundation at the Camberwell School of Art, before studying art at the Royal Academy Schools. In a formative period of her life, she spent two years with her father in India when Lord Snowdon was acting as production photographer for the 1984 film, A Passage to India. The historical drama was produced by a fellow royal connection, John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, who was married to a daughter of the 1st Earl Mountbatten. Knatchbull recruited Sarah as an intern on the film, where she helped in the costume department.
It was during her time in India that Sarah met her future husband, Daniel Chatto. Chatto was working on another British project filming in India at the time, a 1983 historical romance called Heat and Dust. An actor turned artist, Chatto has deep roots in the world of showbiz: his father, Tom, is an actor, and his mother, Ros, was a well known theatrical agent.
The couple tied the knot on 14 July 1994 at St Stephen’s Walbrook in London, in an intimate ceremony that accommodated just 200 guests. Lady Sarah had three teenage bridesmaids: her first cousin’s daughter, Zara Phillips (then Tindall); her half-sister, Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones; and family friend Tara Noble Singh. The bride wore an elegant Jasper Conran gown and the Snowdon Floral Tiara, formerly a gift from her father to her mother on their own wedding day. Lady Sarah and Daniel have two sons: Samuel, a sculptor and yoga enthusiast, and Arthur, who is currently serving in the Royal Marines.
Lady Sarah’s early schooling by her father proved fruitful, and she continues to work as an artist to this day. Represented by the Redfern Gallery, designer and curator Patrick Kinmonth has dubbed her work ‘a profound contemplation of the world she seeks to know and the method she has mastered.’ She has been honoured with awards including the Winsor & Newton Prize in 1988 and the Creswick Landscape Prize in 1990, regularly exhibiting at both the Redfern Gallery and open exhibitions. In the Redfern Gallery’s most recent solo show of her new paintings and watercolours, over three-quarters of her pieces were sold, largely consisting of expressive landscapes and natural forms rendered in rich, earthy colours. She has also been a champion for other areas of the arts, becoming vice president of the Royal Ballet (for which her mother was once president) in 2004.
