Tuesday, October 30, 2012

QVD engagement

Captain Mark and the Hon. Mrs. Nicolson recently announced the engagement of their elder daughter, Louise Alexandra Patricia, to Charles Christopher Thomas Morshead, eldest son of Samuel Rodd Morshead and his former wife, Annabelle Carol Elizabeth Bates. 

Kate and Louise at their London home in 1985
photo by Marlene A Eilers Koenig

the baptism of Louise Nicolson


Mark and Kate in their London home in 1985
photo by Marlene A Eilers Koenig
The Hon. Mrs. Mark Nicolson is the Hon. Katharine Fraser, eldest of three daughters of Alexander Ramsay of Mar and the Hon. Flora Fraser, who succeeded her father as the 21st Lady Saltoun and Chief of the Clan Fraser.   Kate is the heiress apparent to her mother's title.  She married Captain Mark Nicolson in 1980.   In 1973, Kate was recognized with the surname Fraser by the Lord Lyon of Scotland.    The surname is carried by the couple's only son, Alexander.

The bride-to-be is a great-granddaughter of Princess Patricia of Connaught, youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, and, thus a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.  When she married the Hon. Alexander Ramsay, Princess Patricia chose to relinquish the use of the HRH and title of Princess, and was styled as the Lady Patricia Ramsay.

Lady Saltoun, as the widow of the son of a Princess, is still invited to royal events, including the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  It seems likely that her future son-in-law is the same Charles Morshead who accompanied Kate Middleton to the Mahiki bar in 2007 after her brief split with Prince William.

Charles is a friend of Prince William, and was a guest at William's wedding.

3 comments:

Charles von Hamm said...

Isn't Katharine Fraser technically heiress presumptive to her mother, rather than heiress apparent? Theoretically and as unlikely as it will ever be, she could be displaced by the birth of a brother.

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

Katharine cannot be supplanted by a brother. Her mother is elderly and unable to conceive children.

Charles von Hamm said...

That I know, Marlene, but techically Katharine Fraser will always remain her mother's heiress presumptive. A woman is always heiress presumptive in the UK unless she is the brotherless daughter of a deceased heir apparent. The "fertile octogenarian" comes up in discussions of common law (particularly as an argument for the rule against perpetuities).