Phoebe Knatchbull and Leopold Glover recently announced their engagement. The Tatler’s Isaac Bickerstaff was so excited about this announcement that he rushed out an a mistake-full article.
https://www.tatler.com/article/congratulations-mountbatten-phoebe-knatchbull-engagement
* “The Mountbatten heiress Phoebe Knatchbull, 29, who is the great-granddaughter of the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.”
* “Phoebe, 29, was born to Atalanta Cowan and the Hon. Philip Knatchbull, who is the son of Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, the eldest daughter of Prince Philip’s beloved uncle ‘Dickie’ Mountbatten.”
Issac, darling, she was not born to Atalanta Cowan and the Hon. Philip Knatchbull.
Phoebe Heather Wills was born in the Portland Hospital on April 20, 1995, to Wendy (nee Leach). Wendy was married to Alexander John Wills in 1995. They divorced a year later.
The birth announcement was published in The Times on April 25, 1995.
Here is the official GRO registration
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For more than 20 years, I corresponded with the late Patricia, Countess of Mountbatten of Burma. This was due to my research for my book Queen Victoria’s Descendants.
In a March 16, 2005 letter, Lady Mountbatten wrote to me about Philip selling the family home on Montpelier Walk in London. Patricia and her husband, Lord Brabourne, had given Philip the house “a good many years ago.” They lived on the top two floors with “his growing family.”
Philip and “his very nice second wife, Wendy, have a small daughter each, and also share two very small sons and decided to move to a very nice house in Chelsea.”
Two words stick out: Each and Share. Daisy is Philip (and Atalanta’s daughter) and Phoebe is Wendy’s daughter. The two sons are Frederick and John. Philip and his first wife were divorced in 2000. He married Wendy in 2002.
The Hon. Philip Knatchbull considers Phoebe his daughter. He and Wendy raised her together. At some point, Phoebe began to use the Knatchbull surname, rather than the surname on her birth certificate.
This is not the first time Bickerstaff (a nom de plume?) has rushed to hit the submit button. His article on Princess Mafalda of Bulgaria’s divorce was similar to mine, including a misspelled word I later fixed in my post.
