Here, Here!

http://londonersdiary.standard.co.uk/2011/05/bbc-rapped-for-putting-celebs-ahead-of-royals-.html


Yes, indeed!   The cameramen and the directors were not likely to recognize the Mountbattens, etc.   Lady Mountbatten, Lord Brabourne and Lady Pamela Hicks were sitting behind Prince Philip's relatives.  I am not sure if Lady Brabourne was also there, as she may have been sitting a few seats away.   Lord Brabourne is one of the Duke of Cambridge's godparents.

It is unlikely that anyone from the Lascelles family was present for the wedding, but if one of Lord Harewood's sons did attend, they would not have been seated with the Royal Family.    Lord Harewood's sons are grandchildren of a British princess.  "Membership" in the Royal Family largely stops at the children of a prince or a princess, unless the person is in the direct line of the succession.   Lord Harewood, who was born in 1924, is elderly and frail.  He may have been invited, but he would have declined due to his health.     The Earl is the elder son of the late Princess Mary, George V's only daughter, and, thus, one of Queen Elizabeth's first cousins.  His sons and their families have no real ties to the court , although the Hon. James Lascelles' band was hired by the Prince of Wales to play at a Highgrove function several years ago.  

But they are far removed from the throne -- and from a relationship with the Royal family -- that the Lascelles family probably watched the wedding on TV.   Perhaps some of the Bowes-Lyon and other Strathmore descendants were also present in the Abbey.  They are not members of the Royal Family, and are not as closely related to Prince William as they are to the Queen. 

The Queen Mother was the daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore. He died in 1944, and was succeeded by his son, Patrick, who was one of the Queen Mother's older brothers.   When Patrick died in 1949, he was succeeded by his second son, Timothy, as the 18th Earl.  

The new earl was seventeen and half years younger than his Aunt Elizabeth.  His marriage to an Irish nurse, Mary Bridget Brennan, caused some consternation in the family.  They had only one child, a daughter, Caroline, who lived for only a month, and died on January 1, 1960.   Lady Strathmore died under mysterious circumstances in 1967.

Lord Strathmore died in 1972, and was succeeded by his first cousin, Michael, the son of the Hon. Michael Bowes-Lyon, another brother of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.  He died in 1987, and was succeeded by his only son, Michael Fergus, who is the 18th earl.  

The current Lord Strathmore has been married twice.  He has three sons by his first wife, Isobel Weatherall. The couple separated in 2003, and were divorced two years later after a truly acrimonious battle.   In March 2004, Lord Strathmore filed for divorce "on the grounds that his marriage had broken down irretrievably."
Lady Strathmore demaded £5 million and the right to live at Glamis Castle for 12 years after the divorce.  At the time of the announcement of their separation in August 2003, it was reported that Lord Strathmore had left his wife for another woman. 

His lawyer told the court that he was suffering from liver damage -- he was an admitted alcoholic -- and a "delay in the divorce case could have an adverse effect on his health."

During the separation period, Lord Strathmore hired three prostitutes over a four day period.  The divorce was finalize in January 2005.  Three months later,  Lord Strathmore's girlfriend, Dr. Damaris Stuart-William gave birth to his son, Toby.  They were married on November 24, 2005 at Glamis Castle.

The National, a United Arabs Emirate English newspaper reported the following:  "The "Maid Marion" veil was demure and yet when she turned around you saw the buttons down the back and got a shot of that bustle - wow!" said Claire Thorogood, a couturier who dressed several guests for the Royal Wedding including Lady Harewood, the Queen's cousin."    I am not sure how accurate this quote is because the Daily Telegraph reported the following on April 27:


"Ignoring all children, the highest-placed adult who is not attending is George Lascelles, the Earl of Harewood, who is 46th in line to the throne."