EXCLUSIVE!!!!!! Royal engagement: Duke of Noto to marry earl's daughter

Foto: Amadeo-Martín Rey/Amadeo-Martín Rey

The engagement photo, which I have received permission to use.

© ELENA OLAY / ESTILISMO DE CRISTINA PÉREZ-HERNANDO.

EXCLUSIVE TO ROYAL MUSINGS.


Their Royal Highness the Duke and Duchess of Calabria are pleased to announce the betrothal of their eldest son, His Royal Highness Prince Don Jaime de Borbón-Dos Sicilias, Duke of Noto, to Lady Charlotte Diana Lindesay-Bethune, youngest daughter of The Right Honourable the Earl and Countess of Lindsay, for which His Royal Highness the Duke of Calabria has given his consent under the provisions of the Royal Acts of 1829 and 1836.

The Lindesay or Lindsay family is of Danish or Viking, origin having arrived in Britain before the Norman conquest and came to prominence with Sir Walter de Lindsay, a member of the Council of Scotland of King David I in 1116. His grandson, Sir David Lindsay of Crawford and the Byres, was High Chamberlain of Scotland in 1256 and later died on the Crusade to Tunisia led by Louis IX of France in 1270.  Sir David’s son, Sir Alexander de Lindesay, was a leading supporter of Sir William Wallace and Robert the Bruce against Edward I of England. Alexander’s son David, feudal Baron of Crawford and of the Byres, was the ancestor of David Lindsay, created Earl of Crawford in 1398, who was married to Elizabeth, daughter of King Robert II of Scotland, and of John Lindesay, whose maternal grandfather was Sir William Keith, Marischal (Marshal) of Scotland, created Lord Lindsay of the Byres in 1444 and was married to a daughter of Lady Joan Stewart, a granddaughter of King Robert II. The 5th Earl of Crawford was created Duke of Montrose in 1488 but the title was forfeited and only later returned for his lifetime.

Patrick Lindsay, 6th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, played a major role in the complex politics of the reign of Mary Queen of Scots and was among those who brought about her abdication. John,  10th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, who later held the post of Treasurer of Scotland, was created Earl of Lindsay and Lord Parbroath in 1633 and succeeded as 17th Earl of Crawford in 1644; the Crawford title continued to be held by the Earls of Lindsay until 1808 when it passed to Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres. The right to the Earldom of Lindsay then passed to a cousin, and was confirmed for the  10th Earl in 1878, and thence to the present Earl, James Lindesay-Bethune, who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1995-97 and was president of the National Trust for Scotland from 2012-17; he sits as an elected Conservative hereditary peer. He succeeded his father in 1989 as 16th Earl, 15th Viscount Garnock, 25th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, and 15th Lord Kilburnie, Kingsburn and Drumry, having married in 1982 Diana Mary Chamberlayne-Macdonald, granddaughter of Sir Alexander Bosville Macdonald of Sleat, 16th and Premier Baronet of Scotland.

The family assumed the additional name Bethune as heirs of that family by the marriage of George Lindsay of Wormiston to Margaret Bethune (died 1782), eldest daughter and heiress of Thomas Bethune of Kilconquhar. This Scottish branch of the Béthune family (now extinct in the male line), originally from Flanders, was founded by Robert VI, Lord of Béthune, who had been granted lands in Scotland circa 1192. His brothers, who remained in France, were ancestors of the Dukes of Sully and Chârost and other branches of the Béthune / Bethune family.

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Lady Charlotte was educated at St Mary’s School, Calne, and has a M.A in Arabic and Persian from Oxford University (2015), after which she joined Citibank where she has been working for five years and is currently an Assistant Vice-President on the trading floor.



The Duke of Noto was educated at the Centro Universitario Villanueva (with a degree in law), and then has a Master’s degree in Management from the IE University Business School. Since 2018 he has been a Director of the Plug and Play Tech Center (a leading global company specializing in early-stage investing, and as an accelerator and corporate innovator), in Paris and since July 2019 in Spain.

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James Randolph Lindesay-Bethune, 16th earl of Lindsay, was married in 1982 to Diana Mary Chamberlayne-Macdonald, elder daughter of Major Nigel Donald Peter Chamberlayne-Macdonald and  Penelope Mary Alexandra Chamberlayne. She is a granddaughter Sir Alexander Somerled  Angus Bosville Macdonald of Sleat, 16th Baronet.   The Countess is Patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball.

Lady Charlotte was born in London on May 12,1993.  She has four older siblings,  Lady Frances Mary, who is married to Rostislav Gabinsky,  Lady Alexandra Penelope (Mrs. Jack Coleman) , William James, Viscount Garnock, and the Hon. David Nigel, who is Lady Charlotte's twin brother.

The family lives in Upper Largo, Fife, Scotland.

Lord Lindsay's mother is the Hon. Mary Clare Douglas-Scott-Montagu, youngest daughter of the 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu.

Prince Jaime and Lady Charlotte are both descendants of George II.  Jaime descends from Princess Wilhelmine Carolina of Orange-Nassau, who was the daughter of Willem IV, Prince of Orange, and his wife, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, eldest daughter of George II.
Lady Charlotte is a descendant of Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, (son of Frederick Prince of Wales, the eldest son of George II), and his mistress Lady Almeria Carpenter, daughter of the 1st Earl of Tyrconnel.   They had one daughter, Louisa Maria La Coast (1782-1835) who married Godfrey Bosville-Macdonald, 3rd Lord MacDonald of Sleat (1775-1832).  One genealogist has already done a cousin connection.  They are ninth cousins through Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (1676-1732), and Princess  Magdalena Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst (1679-1740).   Prince Jaime is a descendant of their son,  Johann August, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Lady Charlotte is a descendant of their daughter, Auguste, who married Frederick, the Prince of Wales.

Johann August's great-granddaughter, Duchess of Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who married  Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, eldest son of King Louis Philippe I of France.  Jaime is Helene's great-great-great-great grandson.

The wedding will most likely take place in Italy in 2021. 

Thanks to Guy Stair Sainty for giving me the exclusive news to report this engagement.