Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick

Last updated

Lord Downpatrick
Eddy Downpatrick in Lo Manthang, the medieval walled capital of the Kingdom of Lo in the upper reaches of Nepal, close to the Tibetan border.jpg
Downpatrick in 2023
Born
Edward Edmund Maximilian George Windsor

(1988-12-02) 2 December 1988 (age 35)
London, England
Education
Occupation(s)Travel consultant, fashion designer
Title Lord Downpatrick
Parents
Family House of Windsor

Edward Edmund Maximilian George Windsor, Lord Downpatrick (born 2 December 1988), known professionally as Eddy Downpatrick, is a British travel consultant, fashion designer, and former financial analyst, and member of the British royal family. [1]

Contents

As second-in-line to the Dukedom of Kent, he uses one of his grandfather's subsidiary titles, Baron Downpatrick, by courtesy. A second cousin once removed of Charles III, Downpatrick is the most senior member of the House of Windsor to be excluded from the line of succession to the British throne due to his Roman Catholic faith. [2]

Early life, education, and family

Lord Downpatrick was born on 2 December 1988 at St Mary's Hospital, London, and grew up in Cambridge. [3] [4] He is the eldest child of George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, son and heir apparent of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. Downpatrick's mother, Sylvana, Countess of St Andrews, by birth member of the Austrian Tomaselli family, is a Canadian born historian of Austro-Italian and French extraction. [4] [5] Diana, Princess of Wales, was Downpatrick's godmother, [6] but she died before he got to know her well. [4]

Downpatrick was educated at Eton College and matriculated at Keble College, Oxford, where he studied modern languages with a specialisation in French and German. He wanted to join the British Army after the university, but had not recovered from rugby injuries. [4]

Downpatrick is close to his third cousin Princess Beatrice and to his younger sisters Lady Marina and Lady Amelia Windsor, a fashion model. [4] His great-grandmother Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, was the British royal family's fashion icon in the post-war era. [4]

Career

Downpatrick first had the idea to launch a fashion brand while hiking in Scotland in 2009, [4] but decided to focus on his studies and career as a financial analyst at JP Morgan. [6] [7]

Downpatrick left JP Morgan and began working as a fashion designer in 2016. In 2017, he co-founded the fashion label FIDIR with Justine Dalby, where he currently serves as the creative director. [3] [8] [9] The brand specializes in outdoor wear and accessories, providing products such as handbags, wallets, sweatshirts, wash bags, and T-shirts. [10] [4] [11] His designs are inspired by the Scottish Highlands. [12] [13] [14]

In 2021, Downpatrick founded Aristeia Travel, a company that organizes tours and expeditions to various destinations worldwide, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. [15] The company also arranges sporting adventures such as heliskiing and whale watching. [16]

Downpatrick is also a partner at Wheeler-Windsor Expeditions, along with California native Jack Wheeler, offering curated expeditions to clients. [17]

Succession rights

In 2003, aged 15, following the example of his grandmother, the Duchess of Kent, and his uncle Lord Nicholas Windsor, Downpatrick (who was baptised in the Church of England) chose to be confirmed into the Catholic Church. He was therefore barred from the line of succession to the British throne according to the Act of Settlement 1701. As a second cousin once removed of King Charles III, Downpatrick is the most senior person excluded from the line of succession for being a Catholic. [18]

As of January 2024, he would have been 43rd in line. [19] Downpatrick remains second in the line of succession, after his father, to the Dukedom of Kent. [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Edinburgh</span> Dukedom in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produce any revenue for the title-holder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Gloucester</span> Aristocratic title

Duke of Gloucester is a British royal title, often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the current creation carries with it the subsidiary titles of Earl of Ulster and Baron Culloden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Rothesay</span> Dynastic title of heir apparent to British throne

Duke of Rothesay is the main dynastic title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the Scottish and, later, British thrones. The dukedom was created in 1398 by Robert III of Scotland for his eldest son.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince George, Duke of Kent</span> British prince (1902–1942)

Prince George, Duke of Kent, was a member of the British royal family, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and George VI. Prince George served in the Royal Navy in the 1920s and then briefly as a civil servant. He became Duke of Kent in 1934. In the late 1930s he served as an RAF officer, initially as a staff officer at RAF Training Command and then, from July 1941, as a staff officer in the Welfare Section of the RAF Inspector General's Staff. He was killed in the Dunbeath air crash on 25 August 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Kent</span> Title in the peerages the United Kingdom

Duke of Kent is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, most recently as a royal dukedom for the fourth son of King George V. Since 1942, the title has been held by Prince Edward, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Edward, Duke of Kent</span> British prince (born 1935)

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, is a member of the British royal family. The son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he is a grandson of King George V, nephew of King George VI and Edward VIII, and first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. Edward's mother was also a first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Elizabeth II, making him both a second cousin and first cousin once removed to King Charles III. He is 41st in the line of succession to the British throne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife</span> British nobleman

James George Alexander Bannerman Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife was a British landowner, farmer and peer. He was the grandson of Louise, Princess Royal, a daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. As a female-line great-grandson of a British sovereign, he did not carry out royal or official duties or receive any funds from the Civil List. He was the second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and King Harald V of Norway. Through his maternal grandfather, he was also a descendant of William IV and Dorothea Jordan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Fife</span> Title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Duke of Fife is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that has been created twice, in both cases for Alexander Duff, 1st Earl of Fife. In 1889, Lord Fife married Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk</span> Granddaughter of King Edward VII (1893-1945)

Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk, titled Princess Maud from 1905 to 1923, was a granddaughter of Edward VII. Maud and her elder sister, Alexandra, had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign officially granted both the title of Princess and the style of Highness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine, Duchess of Kent</span> Member of the British royal family

Katharine, Duchess of Kent, is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a grandson of King George V.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Frederick Windsor</span> British financial analyst (born 1979)

Lord Frederick Michael George David Louis Windsor is a member of the British royal family. He is a British financial analyst, and the only son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. He is married to British actress Sophie Winkleman. He is 53rd in the line of succession to the British throne.

George Philip Nicholas Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, is an English philanthropist, former diplomat and a member of the British royal family. He was a member of the Diplomatic Service in New York and Budapest. St Andrews became chancellor of the University of Bolton in 2017. He is the trustee of the Next Century and Global eHealth foundations and patron of the Welsh Sinfonia. He is the elder son of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and his wife Katharine, Duchess of Kent, and heir-apparent to the dukedom of Kent. He is 42nd in the line of succession to the British throne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Succession to the British throne</span> Law governing who can become British monarch

Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, sex, legitimacy, and religion. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest collateral line. The Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701 restrict succession to the throne to the legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover who are in "communion with the Church of England". Spouses of Catholics were disqualified from 1689 until the law was amended in 2015. Protestant descendants of those excluded for being Roman Catholics are eligible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Nicholas Windsor</span> Member of the British Royal Family, great grandson of King George V

Lord Nicholas Charles Edward Jonathan Windsor is a relative of the British royal family, youngest child of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. As a Catholic convert, he has forfeited his right of succession to the throne. Lord Nicholas has voiced strong anti-abortion views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Strathearn</span> Scottish noble title

Earl or Mormaer of Strathearn is a title of Scottish nobility, referring to the region of Strathearn in southern Perthshire. Of unknown origin, the mormaers are attested for the first time in a document perhaps dating to 1115. The first known mormaer, Malise I, is mentioned by Ailred of Rievaulx as leading native Scots in the company of King David at the Battle of the Standard, 1138. The last ruler of the Strathearn line was Malise, also Earl of Caithness and Orkney, who had his earldom forfeited by King Edward Balliol. In 1344 it was regranted by King David to Maurice de Moravia, a royal favourite who had a vague claim to the earldom as Malise's nephew and also stepfather.

Sylvana Palma Windsor, Countess of St Andrews is a Canadian-born academic and historian. By virtue of marriage she is a member of the House of Windsor and is related to the British royal family as the wife of George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, eldest son of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Katharine, Duchess of Kent and second cousin of King Charles III.

In the British peerage, a royal duke is a member of the British royal family, entitled to the titular dignity of prince and the style of His Royal Highness, who holds a dukedom. Dukedoms are the highest titles in the British roll of peerage, and the holders of these particular dukedoms are princes of the blood royal. The holders of the dukedoms are royal, not the titles themselves. They are titles created and bestowed on legitimate sons and male-line grandsons of the British monarch, usually upon reaching their majority or marriage. The titles can be inherited but cease to be called "royal" once they pass beyond the grandsons of a monarch. As with any peerage, once the title becomes extinct, it may subsequently be recreated by the reigning monarch at any time.

Daniel Kearns is an Irish menswear designer with a master's degree in menswear from the Royal College of Art. He has held menswear designer positions at Alexander Mc Queen and John Galliano. From 2005-2010 he was Design Director of menswear at Alexander McQueen and in March 2011 he was made menswear Design Director at Yves Saint Laurent. Kearns has consulted for Zegna, Louis Vuitton and Roberto Cavalli, he was made Artistic Director of French Brand Faconnable in 2013. He left his position at Faconnable in April 2015. Kearns was appointed Creative Director of Kent & Curwen in 2016, the British sporting brand that is relaunching with David Beckham. In June 2020 Kearns was made Group Creative Director of Trinity Brands overseeing the creative studios of Gieves & Hawkes, Cerruti 1881 as well as Kent & Curwen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Amelia Windsor</span> British fashion model and member of the extended Royal family

Lady Amelia Sophia Theodora Mary Margaret Windsor is an English fashion model and a member of the British royal family. As a daughter of an earl, she is free to retain the title of lady. She is currently 43rd in the line of succession to the British throne, as of May 2023. She is a granddaughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, so she is consequently a great-great-granddaughter of George V and Queen Mary; she is a second cousin once removed of Charles III.

Lady Marina Charlotte Alexandra Katharine Helen Windsor is a British noblewoman and relative of the British royal family. Although she is a great-great-granddaughter of King George V, and a second cousin once removed of Charles III, she was removed from the line of succession to the British throne in 2008 after being confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church.

References

  1. Reginato, James (23 June 2022). "Meet the Baron Who'll Plan Your Next Vacation". Town & Country . Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  2. Dixon, Christine Liwag (21 August 2023). "Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick: 12 Facts About The Royal Turned Fashion Designer". The List. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  3. 1 2 "Founder of FIDIR: Eddy Downpatrick – Twenty Mile Club". TwentyMileClub. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Eddy Downpatrick on the inspiration behind his menswear collection". Tatler . 11 October 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  5. Ronald Allison; Sarah Riddell (1991). The Royal Encyclopedia. Macmillan Press. p. 145. ISBN   9780333538104 . Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Hugh Grosvenor is the new Duke of Westminster – but who are Britain's other most eligible bachelor aristocrats?". The Telegraph. 12 August 2016. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019.
  7. "The sporting black book". The Field. 22 January 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  8. "Scotland's on the cusp of a fashion renaissance". Scottish Field. 12 April 2018.
  9. "Scottish fashion labels unite for stylish release". Scottish Field. 8 October 2018.
  10. "Our Story". FIDIR.
  11. Furness, Joseph (29 December 2017). "Glass talks to Edward Windsor – founder of menswear brand Fidir". The Glass Magazine.
  12. "Q&A Lord Eddy Downpatrick Founder of FIDIR". The Luxury Editor. 15 January 2018.
  13. "Interview with Eddy Downpatrick Founder of Fidir". Hidden Scotland. 11 May 2018.
  14. "The Scottish Inspired FIDIR Clothing". The Gentleman Select. 7 May 2018.
  15. Dixon, Christine Liwag (21 August 2023). "Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick: 12 Facts About The Royal Turned Fashion Designer". The List. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  16. "The sporting black book". The Field. 22 January 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  17. "Meet the Baron Who'll Plan Your Next Vacation". Town & Country. 23 June 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  18. "People by Andrew Pierce". The Times.
  19. "What is the British Monarchy's Line of Succession". Debrett's. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  20. "Lord Eddy Downpatrick: The royal family has been hiding this serious hottie". news.com.au . 15 December 2018.
  21. Chang, Mahalia (8 April 2018). "13 Hot Eligible Princes You Can Still Marry". ELLE .