A place at the great royal ceremonies does not always come with public duties. Lady Sarah Chatto undertakes none, though she frequently attends events with the wider royal family.
She celebrated her 62nd birthday on 1 May 2026.
She also joined King Charles III for events commemorating the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth, a family presence alongside her life as a painter.
Birth and Family, Kensington Palace
Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto, née Armstrong-Jones, is the only daughter of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. Her parents married in Westminster Abbey on 6 May 1960 and made their home in an apartment in Kensington Palace. Her father became Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley in October 1961. Her elder brother, Lord Linley, was born on 3 November 1961, christened David Albert Charles.
She was born at 8:20 am on 1 May 1964 at Kensington Palace in London. Her baptism took place in Buckingham Palace’s private chapel on 13 July 1964. She was 7th in line to the throne at birth; Tatler placed her 29th on 1 May 2026.
Princess Margaret was Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister; her daughter is the late Queen’s only niece. She and David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, are King Charles III’s only maternal first cousins. She is also godmother to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and to Lady Rose Gilman. Lady Louise Windsor is another godchild.
Childhood, Kensington Palace
Lady Sarah and David grew up in the nursery of Kensington Palace, Apartment 10, with their nanny, Verona Sumner. Their father taught them to build things and be creative, while weekends took them to Nymans or Royal Lodge according to which parent they were with. Holidays meant Sandringham and Balmoral. At Balmoral, she painted landscapes.
She was nine when she became a bridesmaid at Princess Anne’s wedding to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973. Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon separated in 1976, when she was 12, and divorced in 1978, when she was 14. Lord Snowdon married Lucy Mary Lindsay-Hogg in December 1978; their daughter, Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones, was born in 1979.
Art School and a Royal Bridesmaid, Bedales to the Royal Academy Schools
Lady Sarah Chatto took art A-level at Bedales School in Hampshire. In July 1981, aged 17, she was chief bridesmaid at Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral, with seven attendants in all.
Her foundation at Camberwell School of Art followed in 1982-83. King Charles recalled her and Catherine Goodman in June 2025: “my very special cousin, Sarah [Chatto], and Catherine were young 18-year-old students at Camberwell School of Art and used to come bouncing into my room”. He said the idea for the Royal Drawing School began there.
After India, she enrolled on a two-year textile and fabric design course at Middlesex Polytechnic, later Middlesex University; her Printed Textiles studies are dated 1984-85. She then studied for an undergraduate diploma at the Royal Academy Schools in 1985-88, followed by a postgraduate diploma in 1988-91. She won the Winsor & Newton Prize there in 1988. The Creswick Landscape Prize, First Prize and Silver Medal, followed in 1990.
India and Daniel Chatto, ‘A Passage to India’
Lady Sarah spent two years in India with her father, the production photographer on the 1984 film A Passage to India. Producer John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, a relative married to a daughter of the 1st Earl Mountbatten, gave her an internship in the wardrobe department. She also studied wood gilding under her father’s cousin Thomas Messel.
Daniel Chatto was working on Heat and Dust when they met. Tatler dates their meeting to 1983; by 1986, photographs at gallery openings had linked them romantically.
Daniel’s father was the actor Tom Chatto, whose full name was Thomas Chatto St George Sproule. Born on 1 September 1920, he worked on stage as well as in film and television between 1957 and 1982, and died on 8 August 1982. Daniel’s mother, the theatrical agent Ros Chatto, was born Rosalind Joan Thompson and died on 5 June 2012.
The Wedding, St Stephen Walbrook
Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and Daniel Chatto became engaged in May 1994, when Kensington Palace announced the news. Daniel had proposed with a vintage cluster ring. They married on 14 July 1994 at St Stephen’s Walbrook in the City of London, a church designed by Sir Christopher Wren that held 200 guests. The Reverend Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans, presided.
Jasper Conran made the ivory georgette dress with a square-cut corseted bodice and long sleeves. The Snowdon Floral Tiara came from three diamond brooches Lord Snowdon had given Princess Margaret on their wedding day; Conran suggested the conversion after seeing them in her jewellery box.
Zara Phillips was a bridesmaid, alongside the bride’s half-sister Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones. Her friend Tara Noble Singh completed the three. The reception followed at Clarence House, the Queen Mother’s residence, before a honeymoon in India.
Samuel and Arthur Chatto
The eldest son of Lady Sarah Chatto and Daniel, Samuel David Benedict Chatto, was born on 28 July 1996, and the couple posed with him outside London’s Portland Hospital. Arthur Robert Nathaniel Chatto followed on 5 February 1999.
Samuel attended Eton and graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in History of Art in 2018, then attended the Royal Drawing School from 2019 to 2020. He works as a sculptor in West Sussex. He also completed yoga teacher training in India.
Arthur attended Westminster Cathedral Choir School and Eton, and studied geography at Edinburgh. He was a page of honour to Queen Elizabeth II from 2009 to 2015 and was serving with the Royal Marines as of June 2022. Samuel announced his engagement to Eleanor Ekserdjian on 13 July 2026, after proposing with a porcelain ring he had made. A Spring 2027 wedding is reported to be planned.
The Painter Sarah Armstrong-Jones, The Redfern Gallery
Her first exhibition at The Redfern Gallery was Recent Paintings and Drawings in 1995, and she has exhibited there regularly since. Solo shows followed in 1999 and 2003, then 2006-7, 2010 and 2015. Pathways opened in 2019; Gathering followed in 2023. She won The M & G Purchase Prize at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1998 and judged the Discerning Eye exhibition in 2007.
Her subjects include outdoor scenes and still life, as well as interiors and the studio itself. The Sussex Downs and northern Scotland, particularly Dunnet Head in Caithness, recur in her paintings. She uses oil and watercolour, alongside gouache, ink and collage. Since 2023, she has also painted on found slabs of marble.
Patrick Kinmonth describes the paintings as “growing like plants flowering, or landscapes excavated over time from remembered, indistinct horizons”. In 2018 she chose Piero della Francesca’s The Baptism of Christ at the National Gallery as her favourite painting. In 2025 she donated Studio Window, a 2023 oil on canvas, to an auction for Horatio’s Garden. She was one of 70 contributing artists.
Loss and Loyalty, Princess Margaret’s Death and the Queen
Princess Margaret made her last public appearance in December 2001 at Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester’s 100th birthday. She died on 9 February 2002. Her private funeral at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 15 February 2002 was attended by about 450 people.
Lord Linley and Lady Linley walked immediately behind the coffin with Lady Sarah and Daniel Chatto as principal mourners, followed by the Queen and Prince Philip. Kensington Palace issued a statement that day from Lord Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto: “These messages and floral tributes have meant a great deal, and they have been deeply appreciated.” Princess Margaret was cremated; her ashes were placed in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
Her daughter appeared in the BBC documentary Elizabeth at 90: A Family Tribute. In April 2021 she was one of 30 people at Prince Philip’s funeral, and stayed with the Queen at Balmoral after his death.
The Great Royal Occasions, Westminster Abbey
Lady Sarah Chatto was at Buckingham Palace to receive the Queen’s coffin in 2022. She attended the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. At the funeral, her seat was in the third row, alongside Daniel and their sons Samuel and Arthur.
At the Coronation on 6 May 2023, Mr Daniel and The Lady Sarah Chatto and Mr Samuel Chatto arrived with the Earl of Snowdon’s party. They sat in the South Lantern. Later that year she joined the royal family for the Together at Christmas carol service and Christmas church services at Sandringham.
The Royal Ballet Presidencies
Lady Sarah became Vice-President of The Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet School in 2004. Princess Margaret had been President of the company and School from 1956 until her death.
Her appointment as President of The Royal Ballet was announced on 14 May 2024. Birmingham Royal Ballet followed on 14 June 2024, then The Royal Ballet School on 21 June 2024. She succeeded King Charles III, who became Patron.
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, said: “As a long-standing and close friend of the Company, we are all deeply grateful that she will continue her dedicated care and support as our new President.” She is also Patron of the Frederick Ashton Foundation and Vice President of The Royal Drawing School.
A Non-Working Royal Beside the King
Lady Sarah Chatto attended a reception and Royal Ascot in June 2025, and is believed to share a close bond with King Charles over painting landscapes. Before Christmas, she attended the Princess of Wales’s Together At Christmas carol concert and the monarch’s pre-Christmas lunch.
She attended Easter Matins at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, weeks before greeting King Charles and Queen Camilla on 20 April 2026 at a private view of Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style. The exhibition was at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace.
The next day she joined King Charles and Prince Edward at the British Museum for a preview of a model of the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial. Tatler recorded that she was the only non-working royal there.
Lady Sarah Chatto at a Glance
Who is Lady Sarah Chatto?
She is Princess Margaret’s only daughter and Queen Elizabeth II’s only niece. She and her brother David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, are King Charles III’s only maternal first cousins.
How old is Lady Sarah Chatto?
She was born on 1 May 1964 at Kensington Palace. She turned 62 on 1 May 2026.
Who are Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones’s parents?
Her parents are Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. They married in 1960, separated in 1976 and divorced in 1978.
How many children does Lady Chatto have?
She and Daniel Chatto have two sons. Samuel David Benedict Chatto was born on 28 July 1996, and Arthur Robert Nathaniel Chatto on 5 February 1999.
Does Sarah Chatto have siblings?
Her full brother is David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon. Her paternal half-siblings are Polly Fry and Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones, as well as Jasper Cable-Alexander.
