Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones’ 2 Kids: All About David and Sarah
Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones welcomed son David Armstrong-Jones in 1961 and daughter Sarah Chatto in 1964
Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones welcomed two children over the course of their 18-year marriage: David Armstrong-Jones and Lady Sarah Chatto.
The youngest daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth — and Queen Elizabeth II’s only sibling — Margaret married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 1960. However, the couple split in 1976 and officially divorced two years later.
Like their father, both children pursued careers in the arts, with David working as a furniture maker and Sarah as an artist. Princess Margaret’s kids also joined their extended royal family to mourn the loss of their aunt, Queen Elizabeth, in September 2022. David walked behind Prince William and Prince Harry during the Queen’s state funeral procession on Sept. 19, while Sarah attended the day’s services.
Here’s everything to know about Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones’ two children, David Armstrong-Jones and Sarah Chatto.
David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones
The first child of Margaret and Armstrong-Jones, David Albert Charles, was born at Clarence House on Nov. 3, 1961. “Her Royal Highness, The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was safely delivered of a son at 10:45 a.m. today. Both mother and baby are well,” read the official announcement from Clarence House.
David grew up in Apartment 1A of Kensington Palace, the current home of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children. In his late teens and early twenties, David studied to be a craftsman and eventually launched his own custom furniture company, David Linley Furniture Ltd, now called LINLEY. (He uses the surname “Linley” professionally instead of Armstrong-Jones.)
“I inherited my love of design from my father, the Earl of Snowdon, who was always fascinated by pushing the boundaries of an object — working out how to make it touch the ground in two places rather than three,” he told The Telegraph in 2011. “I was pretty bad at making things as a child but he was an excellent teacher.”
Upon his father’s death in 2017, David became the 2nd Earl of Snowdon.
David wed Serena Stanhope on Oct. 8, 1993, at St Margaret’s Church in Westminster. The two welcomed a son, Charles Patrick Inigo Armstrong-Jones on July 1, 1999. Three years later, Lady Margarita Elizabeth Rose Alleyne Armstrong-Jones was born on May 14, 2002. After 25 years of marriage, however, David and Serena announced their decision to split in February 2020.
“The Earl and Countess of Snowdon have amicably agreed that their marriage has come to an end and that they shall be divorced,” a spokesperson for the couple said in a statement. “They ask that the press respect their privacy and that of their family.”
On Sept. 17, 2022, David joined many of his cousins for a vigil held for his aunt, the Queen, who died on Sept. 8. He also participated in the Queen’s funeral procession on Sept. 19.
Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto
Princess Margaret and Armstrong-Jones’ second child and first daughter, Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto, was born at Kensington Palace on May 1, 1964.
As a teenager, she served as a bridesmaid in Prince Charles’ wedding to Princess Diana in 1981. On July 14, 1994, Sarah married Daniel Chatto at St. Stephen Walbrook church in London.
The couple welcomed their first son, Samuel Chatto, in 1996. Their second child, a son they named Arthur, was born on Feb. 5, 1999. Samuel and his brother Arthur both studied at Eton College before enrolling at the University of Edinburgh. Samuel took after his parents and works as an artist while Arthur worked as a personal trainer before joining the Royal Marines.
These days, Sarah works as an artist. Designer and curator Patrick Kinmonth previously described her paintings as “growing like plants flowering, or landscapes excavated over time from remembered, indistinct horizons. … Her work takes us into a profound contemplation of the world she seeks to know and the method she has mastered.” She was awarded the Winsor & Newton Prize in 1988 and the Creswick Landscape Prize in 1990. In 2004, she became the vice president of the Royal Ballet.