George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews

Education and career

Lord St Andrews was educated at Eton College and Downing College, Cambridge where he earned a MA degree.

A former diplomat, he is a Trustee of the SOS Children's Villages UK charity and a Patron of the Association for International Cancer Research. In April 2012, he also became a Trustee of the Next Century Foundation, a charity working throughout the Middle East.

St Andrews is Patron of the Welsh Sinfonia, Wales' professional chamber orchestra, conducted by Mark Eager.

St Andrews is a Trustee of the Global eHealth Foundation.

Marriage and children

On 9 January 1988, St Andrews married divorcee Sylvana Tomaselli in a register office at Edinburgh.

The couple have three children:

Succession issues

St Andrews' wife is a Roman Catholic. According to the Act of Settlement 1701, no person who is Roman Catholic or marries a Roman Catholic could succeed to the throne of any country whose constitution subscribes to that Act. Therefore, from his marriage until 26 March 2015 St Andrews was barred from succession to the throne. After the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 came into effect on 26 March 2015, he is no longer barred from succession and is currently 35th in line, although his two older children, as Catholics, are still barred.

The Dukedom of Kent is not subject to the Act of Settlement or the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, so St Andrews' son and heir, Lord Downpatrick, is in line to become the first Roman Catholic Duke or Earl of Kent since the Reformation.

Patrilineal descent

St Andrews's patriline is the line from which he is descended father to son.

His patrilineal descent (the principle behind membership in Germanic royal houses) can be traced back through the generations — meaning that were St Andrews to choose a historically accurate house name according to this principle it would be Wettin, to which all his male-line ancestors belonged.

This ancestral line diverges from the British royal line at Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, and from then on follows his paternal ancestors.

House of Wettin

1. Burkhard I, Duke of Thuringia, d. 870
2. Burchard, Duke of Thuringia, 836–908
3. (possibly) Burkhard III of Grabfeldgau, 866–913
4. Dedi I, Count in the Hessegau, 896–957
5. (probably) Dietrich I, Count of Wettin, d. 976
6. (possibly) Dedi II, Count in the Hessegau, 946–1009
7. Dietrich II of Wettin, 991–1034
8. Thimo I, Count of Wettin, d. 1099
9. Thimo II the Brave, Count of Wettin, d. 1118
10. Conrad, Margrave of Meissen, 1098–1157
11. Otto II, Margrave of Meissen, 1125–1190
12. Dietrich I, Margrave of Meissen, 1162–1221
13. Henry III, Margrave of Meissen, c. 1215–1288
14. Albert II, Margrave of Meissen, 1240–1314
15. Frederick I, Margrave of Meissen, 1257–1323
16. Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen, 1310–1349
17. Frederick III, Landgrave of Thuringia, 1332–1381
18. Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 1370–1428
19. Frederick II, Elector of Saxony, 1412–1464
20. Ernest, Elector of Saxony, 1441–1486
21. John, Elector of Saxony, 1468–1532
22. John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 1503–1554
23. Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1530–1573
24. John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1570–1605
25. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, 1601–1675
26. John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1658–1729
27. Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1697–1764
28. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1724–1800
29. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1750–1806
30. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 1784–1844
31. Albert, Prince Consort, 1819–1861
32. Edward VII of the United Kingdom, 1841–1910
33. George V of the United Kingdom, 1865–1936
34. The Prince George, Duke of Kent, 1902–1942
35. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, b. 1935
36. George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, b. 1962