Other names Sacha Hamilton Name Alexandra Duchess | Parents Georgina Kennard | |
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Full Name Alexandra Anastasia Phillips Children James Harold Charles HamiltonSophia Alexandra HamiltonNicholas Edward Hamilton Similar People James Hamilton - 5th Duke, Georgina Kennard, Natalia Grosvenor - Duchess | ||
Grandparents Harold Augustus Wernher | ||
Alexandra Anastasia "Sacha" Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, OBE (b. 27 February 1946, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.) is the wife of James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn.
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Royal ancestry
The Duchess of Abercorn and her children (as well as her sister, Natalia) are in the line of succession to the British throne as descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover. They are also descendants of the Russian greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin, as well as his African great-grandfather, Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who was both a tribal prince and a protégé of Peter the Great. It is through their Russian grand ducal father that Alexandra and Natalia are descended from Sophia, Electress of Hanover.
The sisters are related to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh: Their maternal grandmother was born Countess Anastasia de Torby (later Lady "Zia" Wernher), younger morganatic daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mihailovich of Russia (a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia) by his wife Countess Sophie von Merenberg, morganatic daughter of Prince Nikolaus of Nassau (himself brother of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg) by his wife Natalya Aleksandrovna, the younger daughter of Russia's most renowned poet, Pushkin.
Lady Zia's sister Countess Nadezhda de Torby (or "Nada") was the wife of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, elder maternal uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh. The Torby sisters were third cousins of the prince through their common ancestor, Tsar Nicholas I.
The Duchess of Abercorn is a close friend of the Duke of Edinburgh, and her sister, the Duchess of Westminster, is a godmother of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. The Duke of Abercorn was a first cousin of John, 8th Earl Spencer, father of Diana, Princess of Wales, through their mutual ancestor James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn.
She is the eldest daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Pedro Joseph Phillips (1909–1980) and his wife, Georgina Wernher (1919–2011). Her younger sister is Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster. Her paternal grandparents were Col. Joseph Harold John Phillips and his wife Mary Mercedes Bryce, whose niece Janet Mercedes Bryce (daughter of Major Francis Bryce of Hamilton, Bermuda) married David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, son of Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, sister of Alexandra's grandmother.
Siblings
Marriage
On 20 October 1966, Alexandra Anastasia Phillips married James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton (who in 1979, succeeded as the 5th Duke of Abercorn), son of James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn and Lady Mary Katherine Crichton, in Westminster Abbey. The Duke and Duchess of Abercorn have three children and three grandchildren:
The Duchess and her family reside at Baronscourt, near Drumquin, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.