Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma

The Countess Mountbatten of Burma
Born Penelope Meredith Mary Eastwood
(1953-04-16) 16 April 1953
London, England
Spouse(s) Norton Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Issue Nicholas Knatchbull, Lord Brabourne
Lady Alexandra Hooper
The Hon. Leonora Knatchbull

Penelope Meredith Mary Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, (née Eastwood; born 16 April 1953), known until 2005 as Lady Romsey, and until 2017 as The Lady Brabourne, is the wife of The Rt. Hon Norton Louis Philip Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and a British peeress. [1] High Steward of Romsey since 2011. Founder of the Leonora Children's Cancer Fund, now the Edwina Mountbatten and Leonora Children's Foundation. President of The Compassionate Friends. Patron of Countess Mountbatten's Own Legion of Frontiersmen of the Commonwealth. Patron or President of various other local organisations and charities. She shared the running of the Broadlands Estates and family businesses with her husband until she took over the enterprises full time when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Early life

Lady Mountbatten was born Penelope Meredith Mary Eastwood in London, England, only daughter of Reginald W R F Eastwood (1912–1980), a wealthy businessman whose successes included financing the Angus Steakhouse restaurants,[2] and his wife Marian Elizabeth Eastwood (née Hood; b. 1926). She has one brother Peter R W Eastwood (born 1955 Educ. Harvard University USA) who died of cancer in 2013. She grew up and was educated in Switzerland. She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1976.[3]

Marriage and children

On 20 October 1979 at Romsey Abbey in Romsey, she married The Hon. Norton Knatchbull, Lord Romsey, son and heir of John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, and Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and grandson of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy of India. The bridegroom's cousin, The Prince of Wales, served as best man. The family seat is Broadlands, Hampshire.

The wedding took place two months after the assassination of her husband's grandfather, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, by an IRA bomb which also killed three others, his younger brother, Nicholas Knatchbull (1964–1979), his grandmother Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne (1897–1979) and Irish friend Paul Maxwell (1963–1979).

Lady Mountbatten and her husband have three children; two have survived to adulthood:

  • Nicholas Louis Charles Norton Knatchbull (born 15 May 1981), his father's heir apparent (may choose courtesy title Lord Brabourne or Lord Romsey)
  • Lady Alexandra Victoria Edwina Diana Hooper (née Knatchbull; born 5 December 1982), married to Thomas Edward Huntly Hooper on 25 June 2016, at Romsey Abbey, Romsey.[4]
  • The Honourable 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.[5]

Titles and styles

  • 16 April 1953 – 20 October 1979: Miss Penelope Meredith Mary Eastwood
  • 20 October 1979 – 23 September 2005: Lady Romsey
  • 23 September 2005 – 13 June 2017: The Right Honourable The Lady Brabourne
  • 13 June 2017 – present: The Right Honourable The Countess Mountbatten of Burma

References

    1. ↑ "Penelope Meredith Eastwood". The Peerage. 4 December 2007.
    2. ↑ "CBSi". FindArticles.com. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
    3. ↑ "The Queen's confidante (and very close friend of Prince Philip), her cheating husband and a seemingly never-ending catalogue of misfortune..."
    4. ↑ "Mountbatten girl Alexandra walks down aisle with Prince Charles".
    5. ↑ Levy, Geoffrey; Kay, Richard (28 January 2011). "The Queen's confidante". Daily Mail. London.
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