Rachel Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland (née Watkins, born 1963) is a British noblewoman and podcaster. She is the daughter of a farmer from Wales and married David Manners, the 11th Duke of Rutland in 1992. She separated from him in September 2012.

Biography

Born Emma Watkins, the daughter of a farmer from

Knighton, Powys Knighton ( cy, Tref-y-clawdd or ) is a cross-border market town and community on the River Teme, straddling the border between Powys, Wales and Shropshire, England. The Teme is not navigable in its higher reaches and the border does not follow ...

(then within Radnorshire). After schooling at Ellerslie School, Malvern, she started training as an

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

at the Guildhall School of Music, but dropped out. She then began training as a

land agent Land agent may be used in at least three different contexts. Traditionally, a land agent was a managerial employee who conducted the business affairs of a large landed estate for a member of the landed gentry, supervising the farming of the prop ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, but quickly moved into working in

estate agents An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged i ...

marketing properties in London. She later worked as an interior designer until her marriage, after meeting her future husband at a dinner party.Grice, Elizabeth
Emma Rutland of Belvoir Castle: A thoroughly modern duchess
''Daily Telegraph'', 16 July 2012. Accessed 3 October 2017 Today, the Duchess runs the commercial activities of

Belvoir Castle Belvoir Castle ( ) is a faux historic castle and stately home in Leicestershire, England, situated west of the town of Grantham and northeast of Melton Mowbray. The Castle was first built immediately after the Norman Conquest of 1066 an ...

, including shooting parties, weddings and a range of furniture. She has presented on various television programmes, including ITV's ''Castles, Keeps and Country Homes'', and has produced a book about Belvoir Castle.

Podcasting

In 2021, the Duchess created a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

titled ''Duchess'', where she interviews

châtelain Châtelain (from la, castellanus, derived from ''castellum''; pertaining to a castle, fortress. Middle English: ''castellan'' from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman: ''castellain'' and Old French: ''castelain'') was originally the French title ...

es of castles and stately homes throughout the United Kingdom. In her podcast's first season, she interviewed Lady Ingilby of

Ripley Castle Ripley Castle is a Grade I listed 14th-century country house in Ripley, North Yorkshire, England, north of Harrogate. The house is built of coursed squared gritstone and ashlar with grey slate and stone slate roofs. A central two-storey block ...

Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill Lady Henrietta Mary Spencer-Churchill (born 7 October 1958) is an English interior decorator and founder of Woodstock Designs. Her name has been more than once included in a list of 100 Leading Interior Designers by '' House & Garden'' magazine. S ...

of Blenheim Palace, Lady Derby of

Knowsley Hall Knowsley Hall is a stately home near Liverpool in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. It is the ancestral home of the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby. The hall is surrounded by of parkland, which contains the Knowsley ...

, Demetra Lindsay of

Hedingham Castle Hedingham Castle, in the village of Castle Hedingham, Essex, is arguably the best preserved Norman keep in England. The castle fortifications and outbuildings were built around 1100, and the keep around 1140. However, the keep is the only major ...

, Lady Devon of

Powderham Castle Powderham Castle is a fortified manor house situated within the parish and former manor of Powderham, within the former hundred of Exminster, Devon, about south of the city of Exeter and mile (0.4 km) north-east of the village of ...

, Catherine Maxwell Stuart of

Traquair House Traquair House, approximately 7 miles southeast of Peebles, is claimed to be the oldest continually inhabited house in Scotland. Whilst not strictly a castle, it is built in the style of a fortified mansion. It pre-dates the Scottish Baronial s ...

, The Hon. Martha Lytton-Cobbold of

Knebworth House Knebworth House is an English country house in the parish of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. Its gardens are also listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In its surrounding park is t ...

, Caroline, Duchess of Fife of Kinnaird Castle,

Eleanor Campbell, Duchess of Argyll Eleanor Mary Campbell, Duchess of Argyll DStJ (née Cadbury; 26 January 1973) is a British noblewoman, and Prior of the Order of St John's Priory of Scotland. A member of the Cadbury family, she is the wife of Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of A ...

Inveraray Castle Inveraray Castle (pronounced or ; Scottish Gaelic ''Caisteal Inbhir Aora'' ) is a country house near Inveraray in the county of Argyll, in western Scotland, on the shore of Loch Fyne, Scotland's longest sea loch. It is one of the earliest ex ...

, and Lady Mansfield of

Scone Palace Scone Palace is a Category A-listed historic house near the village of Scone and the city of Perth, Scotland. Built in red sandstone with a castellated roof, it is an example of the Gothic Revival style in Scotland. Scone was originally the s ...

. In her third season, she interviewed Alexandra Gage, Viscountess Gage of

Firle Place Firle Place is a Manor house in Firle, Sussex, United Kingdom. The Gage family have owned the land at Firle since acquiring it from the Levett family in the 15th century. The manor house was first built in the late 15th century by Sir John Gage ...

Personal life

Watkins married

David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland David Charles Robert Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland (born 8 May 1959), is a British hereditary peer and landowner. Biography Rutland is the elder son of the 10th Duke of Rutland by his second wife, the former Frances Sweeny, now the Dowager Du ...

, in 1992. They separated in 2012 but continue to co-habitate. The couple have five children: * Lady ''Violet'' Diana Louise Manners (b. 18 August 1993) * Lady ''Alice'' Louisa Lilly Manners (b. 27 April 1995) * Lady ''Eliza'' Charlotte Manners (b. 17 July 1997) *''Charles'' John Montague, Marquess of Granby (b. 3 July 1999) *Lord ''Hugo'' William James Manners (b. 24 July 2003) The family initially lived in the adjacent Knipton Lodge, a six-bedroomed Georgian house. Following the death of the 10th Duke in 2001, they moved into newly renovated private apartments, which had formerly been the nanny's residence. The couple have a staff of one butler and a nanny.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutland, Emma Manners, Duchess of British people of Welsh descent British women podcasters Emma Rutland 21st-century British farmers 21st-century British landowners Women landowners 21st-century English businesswomen 21st-century English businesspeople 1963 births Living people People from Powys