David, Viscount Linley

David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones

David, Viscount Linley is the eldest child of the late Princess Margaret ( the younger daughter of King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon) and Anthony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (son of Ronald Owen Lloyd Armstrong-Jones and his first wife, Anne Messel, later Countess of Rosse)

David was born on 3rd November 1961 at Clarence House, London, then the residence of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. He was christened David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones. Albert was the first Christian name of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, while David was chosen in honour of David Bowes-Lyon, the younger brother of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

David, Viscount LinleyDavid, Viscount Linley

At the age of three, his parents had his prominent ears pinned back through surgery. It was a characteristic inherited from his grandfather, George VI, and shared with his first cousin, Prince Charles.

Currently twelfth in line to the British throne, David follows his cousins, the Queen's children and grandchildren, in the line of succession. He was educated firstly at Buckingham Palace, in company with his cousins the Queen's younger children, Princes Andrew and Edward and later at Bedales School, Petersfield, Hampshire. He then went on to study at Parnham House School. His parents, after a long period of estrangement, were divorced in 1976, following which his father married for a second time to Lucy Mary Davies, producing a second daughter, Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones.

Viscount Linley married the Hon. Serena Alleyne Stanhope on October 8th 1993. Serena is the daughter of Charles, Viscount Petersham and Virginia Alleyne Freeman-Jackson. David and Serena have two children:-

Charles Patrick Inigo Armstrong-Jones, born on 2 July 1999, (The name Inigo was chosen for the famous seventeenth century architect, Inigo Jones, whom Viscount Linley is known to admire)

Margarita Elizabeth Rose Alleyne Armstrong-Jones, born on 14th May, 2002. Margarita was named in honour of the late Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Their children are currently thirteenth and fourteenth in the Line of Succession to the throne.

His mother, Princess Margaret, after suffering a prolonged period of ill-health and a series of strokes, died on 9 February 2002, at the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, after a stroke followed by heart problems. Both David and his sister Sarah were by their mother's bedside at the end, as was her sister, the Queen. David later came under criticism in the press for selling off her jewellery and a painting of the princess.

Viscount Linley is a successful businessman who runs a famous furniture manufacturing company, specialising in furniture of neo-classical style, as well as owning a chain of restaurants. He has published two books 'Classical Furniture' and 'Extraordinary Furniture' and is currently chairman-elect of Christie's UK, the international auction house.