A lesser-known member of the Royal Family is celebrating a special birthday today after a challenging year for his family. Informally known as Eddy Downpatrick, the Duke of Kent’s grandson is marking his 37th birthday.
Edward Edmund Maximilian George Windsor, Lord Downpatrick was born at St Mary’s Hospital in London on December 2, 1988, to George, Earl of St Andrews and Sylvana, Countess of St Andrews. Despite being excluded from the line of succession, Lord Downpatrick is second in line to inherit the Duke of Kent title after his father.
His birthday comes after a challenging few months for the Kent family, following the passing of his grandmother, Katharine, Duchess of Kent.
A godson of Diana, Princess of Wales, Lord Downpatrick was educated at Eton College and at Oxford University, where he served as the president of the infamous Bullingdon Club.
He works as a fashion designer, but first chose to focus on his career as a financial analyst at JP Morgan. He lives in London but often shares pictures of his travels with his 49.2k followers on Instagram. He founded his own fashion label, FIDIR, and also collaborates with travel businesses to curate trips to destinations all over the world.
In a rare interview with Tatler in 2018, Lord Downpatrick admitted he had not always realised that he would be treated differently because of his connection to the Royal Family.
He said: “Only with age – and with a degree of cynicism – can you possibly tell that some people treat you differently because you haven’t got a Mr in front of your names.” He added on being born into the Royal Family: “It’s complete luck that it happens to be you but it’s quite cool that it has.”
Lord Downpatrick is the most senior royal to have lost his place in the Line of Succession after he followed in his late grandmother’s footsteps and converted to Roman Catholicism. The reason for this is tied to the restrictions of the Act of Settlement 1701.
His sister Lady Marina also lost her place, but their younger sister Lady Amelia did not choose to convert and currently sits behind her father at 44th in line to the throne.
While Lord Downpatrick is no longer listed in the Line of Succession, he is still second-in-line to become The Duke of Kent, however, there will be a slight change.
As his father, George, is a great-grandson of a sovereign (King George V) and therefore not entitled to a royal title owing to the rules laid out in the 1917 Letters Patent, the Dukedom will no longer be a Royal Dukedom, and he will be styled as His Grace The Duke of Kent, rather than His Royal Highness. The same will go for Edward when his time to assume the role comes.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
