Nicholas Emanuel Stafford Howard

Dr Anna F. Howard (née Parsons), wife of Dr Henry James Stafford Howard (b. 1972), of Johnby Hall, Cumbria, scion of the Dukes of Norfolk, gave birth to a son, Nicholas Emanuel Stafford, 16 March, 2009.

Dr Howard is the son of the late Mr Nicholas Stafford Howard (1937-2008), of Johnby Hall, Cumbria, by his wife the former Phyllis Bethan Duckett, and Anna is the elder daughter of the Rev. Stephen and Mrs Parsons, of Edinburgh.

On 16th March 2009, to Anna (née Parsons) and Henry, of Johnby Hall, Cumbria, a son Nicholas Emanuel Stafford.
--==--

Eliza Honor Vaughan

The Hon Georgina Isabel Vaughan (b 1980, nee Byng) scion of the Viscounts Torrington, wife of John F. Vaughan, scion of the Vaughan of Courtfield LG family, gave birth to a daughter, Eliza Honor, 23 March, 2009.

John is the son of Mr and Mrs Patrick Vaughan, of Courtfield, Herefordshire, and Georgina is the 2nd daughter of the 11th Viscount Torrington (b 13 Jul 1943), of Mere, Wits, by his wife the former Susan Webster (descended from the Marquesses of Conyngham).
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Dowager Lady Torphichen dies

The Dowager Lady Torphichen, who died 20 March, 2009, was the 3rd wife, and widow of the 14th Lord Torphichen. She was the former Pamela Mary Howard-Snow, dau of John Howard-Snow, and married (i) Thomas Hodson-Pressinger; married (ii) 1973, as his 3rd spouse, the 14th Lord Torphichen (Lordship of Scotland, 1564), who died in 1975. She leaves 2 children Anne and Selwyn Hodson-Pressinger. Funeral at Brompton Oratory SW7 on 8th April, 2009.

-==--

Cameron/Maclay engagement

_.The engagement was announced 31 March, 2009, between Donald Andrew John Cameron, younger of Lochiel (b 1976), son of.— Donald Cameron, Chief of the Clan Cameron, of Achnacarry, by his wife the former Lady Cecil Nennella Therese Kerr (b 1948), & Sarah Elizabeth Maclay (b 1977), scion of the Barons Maclay, daughter of the Hon Angus Grenfell Maclay (b 1945), of St Boswells, by his late wife the former Hon (Elizabeth) Victoria Baillie (d 1986), dau of the 3rd Baron Burton.
Donald Cameron, yr of Lochiel is a grandson maternally of the 12 Marquis of Lothian, KCVO (1922-2004)
-==--

Gordon Brown and Queen in talks about lifting Catholic ban

Gordon Brown has opened talks with Buckingham Palace on removing the 308-year-old law which bars members of the Royal Family from marrying Roman Catholics.

The Princess Royal would jump ahead of the Duke of York if the law on succession are overhauled

Discrimination against female heirs to the throne would also be scrapped under the proposals expected to be introduced next year, if the law were to be made retrospective the Princess Royal would move ahead of the Duke of York in the line of succession.

At present, members of the Royal Family are forbidden by the Act of Settlement from converting to Roman Catholicism or marrying someone from the Catholic faith unless they agree to being removed from the order of succession.

Male members of the Royal family take precedent over their female relatives, meaning that the Princess is further down the line of succession than her younger brothers and their children.
The Prime Minister is understood to be in favour of overhauling the laws on succession, and Buckingham Palace is also thought to be ``open'' to the plans.

Two of the main impediments to reform - the need to secure the consent of the Commonwealth, and concerns about the monarch's status as head of the Church of England - have both been discussed.

Monarchs and members of their family in the order of succession have been banned from marrying Roman Catholics since the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the Catholic James II was overthrown in favour of the Protestant William of Orange. The prohibition is enshrined in the Bill of Rights passed that year, and the 1701 Act of Settlement.

Rewriting the Act of Settlement requires the consent of all 53 Commonwealth countries, and Mr Brown hopes to discuss the proposal at the Commonwealth summit in November. He has already held private talks about his plans with some Commonwealth leaders.

Sources close to the Prime Minister stressed that the plans would not undermine the Establishment of the Church of England, and that the monarch would retain the role of head of the Church.

If the law was changed and it is made retrospective, the Princess would move from 10th to fourth in line to the throne, behind her older brother, the Prince of Wales, and his sons, Princes William and Harry.

Her children, Peter and Zara Phillips, would also be lifted up the line of succession, ahead of the Duke and his daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and the Earl of Wessex and his children, Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn, who would move after his older sister.
During the current Queen's reign, two members of the Royal Family - Prince Michael of Kent and the Earl of St Andrews - renounced heir rights of succession after marrying Roman Catholics. Last year, it was announced that Autumn Kelly had renounced her Catholic faith before she was able to marry Mr Phillips.

Over the past decade, Labour has pursued a number of policies which have angered Catholics, such as equality laws which forced adoption agencies to consider homosexuals as potential parents and the creation of hybrid human-animal embryos.

Mr Brown's bid to rewrite the Act of Settlement is thought to be part of a new attempt to win over Catholics and pave the way for a state visit to Britain by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Prime Minister is also said to be considering offering a peerage to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, which would make him the first Roman Catholic bishop to sit in the House of Lords since the Reformation.

Speaking about the Act of Settlement yesterday during an event at the House of Commons, the Cardinal said: "It's discriminatory. I think it will disappear, but I don't want to cause a great fuss over it."
In Sweden, the law was changed in 1980 to allow the succession to pass to the eldest child of the monarch regardless of gender, while similar moves were made to the royal families of Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.

MPs will today[Friday] be given the opportunity to vote on reforming laws proposed by a backbench MP to allow Roman Catholic succession.

The Private Member's Bill is being introduced by Evan Harris, a Liberal Democrat, and enjoys cross-party support. As well as the backing of senior Catholics in the Commons, including Edward Leigh, the Tory chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, and Andrew MacKinlay, Labour MP for Thurrock, it is also supported by a number of women members.

The Prime Minister will not support this legislation himself as he has concerns about some technical aspects of the way it has been drawn up, however, Labour MPs are free to vote in favour if they wish. Instead, the Prime Minister will wait until after negotiations are concluded before introducing his own legislation next year.

A Number 10 aide said last night: ``In principle this is an area where we want to see progress. We are not going to support today's Bill but we won't oppose it. It is not possible to simply change legislation as it's a very complex area.''

Dr Harris said of his Bill: "The Bill will remove the uniquely discriminatory stipulation which currently exists - that an individual in the line of succession to the throne can have a civil partnership with a Catholic, can marry a Muslim or atheist, but can not marry a Catholic.
"It will also end the rule of primogeniture, whereby women in the line of succession to the throne is automatically superseded by a younger male sibling - if your current monarch had a young brother, we would never had had a Queen Elizabeth II."

The Bill would also repeal the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, which requires the descendants of George II to seek the consent of the monarch before marrying if they are under the age of 25.

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Guest/Burbury engagement

_.The engagement was announced 26 March, 2009, between Henry Charles Guest (b 1978), scion of the Viscounts Wimborne, elder son of the Hon Charles James Guest (b 1950), of Somerset, by his wife the former Simone Whinney, and Nova J. Burbury, elder daughter of Mr and Mrs Christopher Burbury, of Perth, Western Australia.


--==--

Suzanne, Lady Mahon dies

Suzanne, Lady Mahon, who died 22 March, 2009, at Winchester, was the second wife, and widow, of Sir George Edward John Mahon, 6th Baronet, who she married in 1958, and who died in 1987. She was daughter of Thomas Donnellan, of Pirbright, Surrey. Private family funeral. Thanksgiving service St Mary's Church, Battersea.—Wednesday 15th April 2009.


--==--

Turner/Howard engagement

The engagement was announced circa 24 March, 2009, between Christian Turner, elder son of Professor and Mrs David Turner, of Syracuse, New York, and Victoria Picton Seymour Howard (b 1975), scion of the Howard Baronets (cr 1955), younger daughter of Sir David Howarth Seymour Howard, 3rd Baronet (b 29 Dec 1945), of the City of London, & Lady Howard.
The marriage will be celebrated in London on 31st July 2009.


--==--

Emily Jane Theodora Vyvyan

Venetia Ruth Caroline Vyvyan (née Turner), wife since 1993, of George 
James Tawney Vyvyan (b. 1951), scion of the Vyvyan Baronets (created 
in 1645), gave birth to a dau, Emily Jane Theodora, 5 March, 2009, a 
sister for Charlotte, Alice, & George Alexander Tawney, who was b 24 
January, 2004. 

-- 

Violet May Vane-Tempest-Stewart

Lady Reginald Vane-Tempest-Stewart, wife of Lord Reginald Alexander Vane-Tempest-Stewart (b. 1977), gave birth to a daughter, Violet May, 13 Feb, 2009, a sister for Amy Romaine, who was b 19 February, 2007, & a sister for Robin Gabriel, who was b. 29 May, 2004. 

Lord Reginald is the younger son of the 9th Marquess of Londonderry and of Doreen Marchioness of Londonderry (Doreen Wells, the 
ballerina), & Lady Reginald is the former Chloe B. Guinness, only daughter of Mr William Loel Seymour Guinness (b. 1939) and Mrs (Agnes 
Elizabeth) Lynn Guinness (nee Day). 


Lady Reginald is a granddaughter paternally of Group Capt (Thomas) Loel Evelyn Bulkeley Guinness, OBE, (d. 1988), and of the former Lady 
Isabel Violet Kathleen Manners, daughter of the 9th Duke of Rutland. 

Gerard Morgan-Grenville

Gerard Morgan-Grenville, who died 2 March, 2009, was a scion of the 
Lords Kinloss, and a great-grandson of the last Duke of Buckingham and 
Chandos, who lost the family seat at Stowe. 
He was a grandson of Mary, Lady Kinloss (peeress in her own right). 

Gerard Wyndham Morgan-Grenville was born 26 March 1931 at Iping, near 
Midhurst, son of Capt the Hon Robert William Morgan-Grenville 
(1892-1988), by his 2nd wife the former Elizabeth Renshaw, widow of 
Maj Francis Wm Lindley Gull (of the Gull Bts), dau of Sir Charles 
Renshaw 1st Baronet. Educated at Eton; He married three times, (i) 
1955  (Div 1981) Virginia Anne Peto, scion of the Peto Baronets; (ii) 
Fern Diana Jackson; (iii) Margaret____; and is survived by his third 
wife, and by two sons and a daughter from his first marriage, viz: 
Hugo Gerard b 1958, George Septimus b 1964, and Laura Isabel Hester, b 
1961. 

Hon Richard Neville Cabbell Manners (1924-2009)

The Hon Richard Neville Cabbell Manners, of Cromer Hall, Norfolk, who 
died 17 March, 2009, aged 85, was a scion of the Barons Manners (cr 
Peerage of the UK 1807): & descended from the Dukes of Rutland; b 
1924, yr son of the 4th Baron Manners, MC (1897-1972), by his wife the 
former Mary Edith Gascoyne-Cecil, scion of the Marquesses of 
Salisbury; educated at Eton; married 1945, Juliet Mary, dau of Col Sir 
Edward Hulton Preston, 5th Baronet, DSO, MC; by whom he had issue: (i) 
Christine Margaret Lavender b 1946; (ii) Edward Preston b 1948: (iii) 
Rupert Francis Henry b 1950; (iv) (Thomas) Benjamin, b 1954.  Service 
of Thanksgiving at St Marys Church, Roughton, 30 March 2009. 

This gentleman assumed the additional surname of CABBELL before that 
of MANNERS... 

--==-- 

Gruffudd Jones/Barttelot engagement

—The engagement was announced 21 March, 2009, between Freddie N. 
Gruffudd Jones, younger son of Mr and Mrs Dafydd Gruffudd Jones, of 
Anglesey, and Emma, youngest daughter of Col Sir Brian Walter De 
Stopham Barttelot, OBE, 5th Baronet (b 17 Jul 1941), of Stopham, 
Pulborough, Sussex, by his wife the former Hon (Mary Angela) Fiona 
Weld-Forester (b 1944), yst dau of the late 7th Baron Forester 
(1899-1977). 

--==-- 

The Hon Claudia Violet Allhusen (nee Betterton)

The Hon Claudia Violet Allhusen (nee Betterton), who died at 
Bereweeke, Winchester, 16 March, 2009, aged 91, was born in 1917, the 
younger dau of the 1st and last Baron Rushcliffe, PC, GBE (d 1949), 
and widow of Maj Derek Swithin Allhusen, CVO (1914-2000), 9th Lancers, 
a former High Sheriff of Norfolk, one of HM Bodyguard of the Hon Corps 
of Gentelmen-at-Arms, [Standard Bearer, 1981-4],  the scion of a 
family long established at Bradenham Hall, Thetford. They married in 
1937 . He died 24 Apr, 2000. The Rushcliffe barony has been extinct 
since 1949. 
She leaves issue. The funeral Service to be held at St Andrew's 
Church, Claxton, 25 March 2009. 

--==--

Faith Deborah Etrenne Grattan (née Arbuthnot)

Faith Deborah Etrenne Grattan (née Arbuthnot), who died 15th March 
2009 at her home, was a scion of the Arbuthnot Baronets (cr 1823); 
born in 1921, a daughter of Lieut-Col. Archibald Hugh Arbuthnot 
(1874-1957), by his second wife the former Marjory Beech (d 1975); 
Subaltern, ATS 1939-45; maried 1948,  Edmund O'Donnell Colley Grattan, 
FRCS (deceased); by whom she had issue. 

--==--

7th Baron Kilmarnock (1927-2009)

The 7th Baron Kilmarnock, who died 19 March 2009, aged 81, was head of 
the Clan Boyd, a gifted writer, lifelong Hispanophile and chairman of 
the all-party parliamentary group on Aids. 

Alastair Ivor Gilbert Boyd was born 11 May 1927 and educated at 

Bradfield and King's College, Cambridge. 

He was a Page to the Lord High Constable of Scotland at the Coronation 
of King George VI, May 1937. 

During national service he was in Palestine, in 1947-48, as a 
lieutenant in the Irish Guards, then entered his father's business in 
the City. 

Lord Kilmarnock's publications (as Alastair Boyd) included Sabbatical 
Year (1958); The Road from Ronda (1969); The Essence of Catalonia 
(1988); The Social Market and the State (1999); and Rosemary: a memoir 
(2005). 

He married first, in 1954 (dissolved 1970), Diana Mary Grant Gibson, 
who died in 1975. He married secondly, 1977, Hilary Anne, dau of 
Leonard Sidney. His second wife survives him with their son, and his 
younger brother, the Hon Robin Jordan Boyd, known as "Tiger" who was 
born 6 Jun 1941, succeeds to the peerage (Baron, UK 1831). 

--==-- 

Michael Allstar Astor

Leslie Astor, wife of Henry Waldorf Astor, scion of the Viscounts Astor, gave birth to a son, Michael Allstar, 9 March, 2009, in New York, a brother for Jakie, and for Charles Edgar Spence, who was b New York, 15 Sept 2007, and a half-brother for George. --==--

Major Philip Charles Metcalfe Bathurst

_. Major Philip Charles Metcalfe Bathurst died 15 March, 2009, aged 
86. He was descended from the Rt Hon Charles Bathurst (formerly 
Bragge), kisnman of the Earls Bathurst and the Viscounts Bledisloe; 
born 5 May 1922; the second son of Lt.-Col. Charles Robert Bathurst 
(1879-1967) by his wife the former Felicite Esther Theophilia Metcalfe 
(d 1960); career:- Maj. Royal Engineers; married 14 May 1953, 
Winifrede Gillian Debenham, daughter of Leonard Snowden Debenham; by 
whom he had issue, (i) Nicholas Charles George Bathurst, b 3 Jun 1954; 
(ii) Robert Guy Bathurst, b 22 Feb 1957; (iii) Charlotte Mary Bathurst 
b. 23 Sep 1961.  Funeral Mass at South Woodchester RC Church, Stroud, 
Glos, Saturday 28 March 2009. 

==--==

Greta Elizabeth Geddes

Georgina P.T. Geddes (née Wetherill), wife of Leo Patrick T.C. Geddes 
(b. 1981), scion of the Barons Geddes (cr 1942), gave birth to a 
daughter, Greta Elizabeth, 30 January, 2009. 

Leo Geddes is a son of His Honour Andrew Campbell Geddes (Judge 
Geddes) (b. 1943), by his 2nd wife the former Bridget Caroline Helen 
Warren-Swettenham, & Georgina is a daughter of Mr & Mrs Martin 
Wetherill. 

Leo is a grandson of Colonel the Hon Alexander Campbell Geddes, OBE, 
MC, TD (1910-72), by his 1st wife, Margaret Kathleen Addis, and is a 
great-nephew of the Hon Margaret Campbell Geddes (HRH The Princess of 
Hesse and the Rhine), &c. 

==--== 

Hon Mary Katharine Medina Duckworth

The Hon (Mary) Katharine Medina Duckworth (nee Chatfield), OBE, who 
died 14 March, 2009, aged 97, was b circa 1911, second of the three 
children of the 1st Baron Chatfield, PC, GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO 
(1873-1967), by his wife the former Lillian Emma Matthews; she married 
22 Sept, 1947, Henry George Austen de l'Etang Herbert Duckworth (b 
1905; deceased), scion of that landed gentry family and descended from 
Herbert Earls of Carnarvon, son of Sir George Duckworth, CB, FSA; by 
whom she had issue, (i) Sarah Margaret Katharine, b 1951, who married 
a Munro of Foulis (Baronetcy family); & (ii) Harriet Angela Victoria, 
b 1951 (twin), who m. Count Andreas von Einsiedel.  Funeral, Thursday 
26th March 2009 at St Margaret's, West Hoathly, W. Sussex. 

--==--