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Lord Ivar Mountbatten's Instagram account
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Last weekend, Ella Mountbatten and her boyfriend, Fergus Wright, were guests at the wedding of her cousin, Isabella (Bizzy) Arnott, to Angus Oliver. When it was time for the bride to throw her bouquet to the single ladies, Ella got in line, and as soon as the bouquet hit the air, she was the first out of the post—and grabbed it. She was congratulated by her cousin. If you catch the bridal bouquet, tradition states that you will be the next to marry.
Earlier today on Instagram, Lord Ivar Mountbatten announced his eldest daughter, Ella's engagement to Fergus Wright, Marketing Manager at Sky Sports Racing.
Lord Ivar is the younger son of the late David, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, and Janet Bryce. On April 23, 1994, he married Penelope Vere Thompson at the Church of St Peter and St. Paul in Clare, Suffolk.
They had three daughters, Ella, Alexandra, and Louise, before divorcing in 2011. In 2018, he married James Coyle, a director of airline cabin services.
Among the guests at Lord Ivar's wedding were Prince Edward and his girlfriend, Sophie Rhys-Jones, and Princess Margaret.
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| Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection (photo given to me by Penelope Mountbatten, then Lady Ivar Mountbatten) |
Ella Louise Georgina Mountbatten was born on March 20, 1996, at Rosie Maternity Hospital, a part of Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. The hospital was not far from their home, Moyns Park. Lord and Lady Ivar, along with their newborn daughter, were profiled in the May 11, 1996, issue of Hello magazine. The presentation took place on her parents' second wedding anniversary.
Lord Ivar told the magazine: "The birth was not how I imagined it would be at all. On television you see hundreds of people around a table wearing green masks but it was very intimate with just Penny, the midwife and I."
He "helped to deliver Ella and cut the umbilical cord. When I saw her appear, it was amazing-- not so much a shock, but a revelation."
Her baptism took place in the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace in June 1996.. Prince Edward is one of her godparents. Sophie Rhys-Jones also attended the baptism, "who managed to squeeze time between two business meetings to attend the christening."
Ella was named after her great-great-aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, also known as Ella. The Grand Duchess was born Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and By Rhine and was a younger sister of Princess Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine, who was Lord Ivar's great-grandmother. "My daughter's second name, Louise, " said Lord Ivar "was after Queen Louise of Sweden, who was my grandfather's and Lord Louis Mountbatten's sister.
"We have also called her Georgina after my first cousin, Lady Kennard, who is the mother of the Duchess of Westminster and the Duchess of Abercorn."
[Actually, first cousins once removed, as Georgina Wernher and David, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, were first cousins. https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2011/05/georgina-lady-kennard.html ]
After the ceremony, Lady Ivar (as Penny was then styled) spoke to Hello magazine: "It was a simple and very relaxed ceremony, and Ella was a little dream. She only cried when the Rev [William] Booth wiped the water from her little forehead, and the rest of the time she slept soundly."
The post-christening luncheon was held in the Palace's Armoury room. The meal was prepared by Moyns Park's chef de cuisine Rosemary Schraeger. At the time, Lord and Lady Ivar ran their 15th-century home as a corporate venue.
Ella's grandfather, the 3rd Marquess, was also baptized in St. James's Chapel, which was also where the 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven married Countess Nada Torby in 1916.
St. James's Palace was "the perfect place for a christening, full of history and yet very much linked with the family. Because it was so private, it was a very relaxed day and everyone enjoyed themselves in such beautiful surroundings."
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2012/05/prince-george-of-battenberg-to-marry.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2012/11/grand-duke-michaels-daughter-marries.html
In 1997, Lord Ivar sold Moyns Park, near Birdbrook, Cambridge, for approximately £4 million. As Lady Ivar was expecting their second child, she and her husband had "struggled to keep Moyns Park going by running an entertainment business from the house."
They purchased Bridwell Park, a 173-acre estate near Tiverton, Devon. The couple's two younger daughters, Alexandra and Louise, were born at Bridwell Park. Lord Ivar and his older brother, George, now the 4th Marquess of Milford Haven, inherited the estate from their mother's first cousin, Ivar Bryce. In 1991, Lord Ivar bought his brother's share of the property.
For several years, Ella and her sisters joined their parents on the balcony with the Royal Family following the Trooping of the Colour.
In 2014, Ella, then 18, was presented at the Le Bal in Paris. The debutante ball was held on November 29 at the Palais de Chaillot.
She was not the first member of her extended family to be presented at the ball. Lady Amelia Windsor and Ella's first cousin, Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, had been presented at earlier Le Bals.
Ella told Hello magazine that the ball was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that not many people are able to experience." Her debutante gown was made by Ralp & Russo Couture, and she wore Bucherer jewelry."
Her cavalier was Prince Henri of Bourbon-Parma. Ella said she looked forward to meeting the young Prince, who has since married Archduchess Gabriella of Austria.
At the time, Ella, who had recently finished school, was living with her paternal grandmother, Janet, Marchioness of Milford Haven, in Chelsea. "Recently, when I went out to a club at 11:30 p.m., on a Saturday night, she told me off and said it would be a scandal. I had to tell her that no one knows who I am, and everyone goes out late these days. She was very shocked."
In the same interview, she said she was "very interested in the family history and both my father and grandmother spend a lot of time telling me about it. It's very complicated and I struggle to remember it all, but it is very fascinating."
She had earned three A+ levels and planned to attend the University of Bristol to study psychology.
The following year, the family, including Lord and Lady Milford Haven, Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, Lord Ivar and his three daughters, visited Bergstadt Battenberg, the source for the title created for Countess Julie von Hauke following her marriage to Prince Alexander of Hesse and By Rhine. This marriage was morganatic, and their male line descendants were not entitled to Alexander's title or status. In 1851, Alexander's brother, Grand Duke Ludwig III, created Julie as Countess of Battenberg. The countly title was also used by their children until 1858, when Ludwig elevated Julie and her children to the status of Prince/ess of Battenberg with the style of Serene Highness.
Julie's son, Prince Louis, married his first cousin, once removed, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. He served in the Royal Navy and became a naturalized British citizen. In 1917, the family renounced their German titles. The new family name was Mountbatten. In 1917, Louis was created the 1st Marquess of Milford, Earl of Medina, Viscount Alderney.
She also spent some time working as a professional model during her time at the University of Bristol.
In 2017, with the support of his family, Lord Ivar came out as gay. He told the Mail on Sunday: "Being a Mountbatten was never the problem. It was the generation into which I was born. When I was growing up, it was known as 'the love that does not speak its name,' but what's amazing now is how far we have all come in terms of acceptance.
"In an ideal world, I know the girls would like their mother and father still to be together, but they love their 21st-century family, that we have built, too. Their father has a boyfriend. It's that complicated and that simple, but finding James means I will not have to lie to anyone or grow old on my own."
It was Ella nd her two younger sisters who suggested that their mother give their father away when he married James Coyle on September 22, 2018, in a private ceremony at Bridwell Park.
Bridwell Park was sold in 2024. Lord Ivar and his husband, James, live on a nearby property.
Ella has a BA in Anthropology (First Class Honors) from the University of Bristol. She is a Brand Partnership Manager with the Hong Kong-based Peninsula Hotels.
Fergus Benjamin Nicholas Wright is the son of Nicholas Richard Wale Wright and Lucinda Clare Benson. He was born one month before his future wife, on February 20, 1996, at the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge. His mother, Lucinda, is the daughter of Robert (Robin) Stephan Benson and Jane Elliot Allday, who served as one of Princess Margaret's ladies-in-waiting from June 26, 1963, through the mid-1990s.
Princess Margaret attended Jane's wedding on July 23, 1964, at St. Luke's, Chelsea. On October 25, 1965, the Princess returned to St Luke's as one of the godparents of Jane's daughter, infant daughter, Lucinda Clare Benson.
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| Times, October 26, 1965 |
Fergus has an MA in Business Marketing from the University of Edinburgh's Business School. Along with his marketing position with Sky Sports Racing, he is also an Insurance Relationship executive with Miller Insurance Services.
Ella is a descendant of Queen Victoria.
Victoria - Alice - Victoria - George - David - Ivar - Ella
Victoria - Alice - Victoria -Alice - Philip - Charles -William - George.
Through her mother, Penny, she is a descendant of Oliver Cromwell.
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