Earl of Snowdon is a title in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great ...

. It was created in 1961, together with the

subsidiary title A subsidiary title is a title of authority or title of honour that is held by a royal or noble person but which is not regularly used to identify that person, due to the concurrent holding of a greater title. United Kingdom An example in the U ...

of Viscount Linley, of

Nymans Nymans is an English garden to the east of the village of Handcross, and in the civil parish of Slaugham in West Sussex, England. The garden was developed, starting in the late 19th century, by three generations of the Messel family, and was bro ...

in the

County of Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Eng ...

, by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

for her then brother-in-law,

Antony Armstrong-Jones Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in '' Vogue'', '' Vanity F ...

, who married

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

in 1960.

Titles

Choice of names

Snowdon Snowdon () or (), is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park (') in Gwynedd (histori ...

'', chosen for the

earldom Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant " chieftain", particula ...

, had previously been used for a peerage title with royal associations. The title of

Baron Snowdon Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or ...

had been conferred in 1726 along with the Dukedom of Edinburgh on Prince Frederick Louis, grandson of George I and future

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

. It merged in

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

in 1760, when its holder acceded as

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

. ''Linley'', chosen for the viscountcy, comes from the 1st Earl of Snowdon's maternal great-grandfather, the English cartoonist and illustrator Edward Linley Sambourne. ''

'', chosen as

territorial designation In the United Kingdom, a territorial designation follows modern Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage titles, linking them to a specific place or places. It is also an integral part of all baronetcies. Within Scotland, a territorial designatio ...

of the viscountcy, relates to an English garden near Handcross in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, where Anne Armstrong-Jones, ''née'' Messel, Countess of Rosse, mother of the 1st Earl of Snowdon, had grown up.

Life peerage

In November 1999, the 1st Earl of Snowdon received a

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages A ...

as Baron Armstrong-Jones, under a device designed to allow first-generation hereditary peers to retain their seats in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

, after the passing of the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

Earls of Snowdon (1961)

* ''

Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in '' Vogue'', '' Vanity F ...

(1930–2017)'' **

David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (born 3 November 1961), styled as Viscount Linley until 2017 and known professionally as David Linley, is an English furniture maker, a former chairman of the auction house Christie's UK, ...

(born 1961) ***(1) Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (b. 1999) The heir apparent is the present holder's only son, Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (b. 1999). He is alone in the line of succession to the earldom.

Coats of arms

File:Coat of Arms of Antony, Earl of Snowdon.svg, Arms of the 1st Earl of Snowdon, GCVO File:Coat of arms of Antony Armstrong-Jones as 1st Earl of Snowdon.png, Arms of the 2nd Earl of Snowdon File:Arms Armstrong-Jones with cadency.png, Arms of the 2nd Earl of Snowdon's

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

Charles, Viscount Linley

Notes

External links

*
Cracroft's Peerage page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snowdon Earls of Snowdon Earldoms in the Peerage of the United Kingdom 1961 establishments in the United Kingdom Noble titles created in 1961