He is the son of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, so it is fitting that David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, had a taste for the finery things in life from his earliest days.
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As an infant David, then styled Viscount Linley, reportedly skipped the traditional first words of ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ and went for something rather more high brow: ‘chandelier’.
The tidbit was revealed by Gyles Brandreth, the former MP, author and royal expert, in conversation with Dame Judi Dench on the first episode of his new podcast, Rosebud. The broadcaster recounts how Princess Margaret reportedly shared the insight with Laurence Olivier and his wife Joan when they joined her for lunch.
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Brandreth says: ‘Lady Olivier said to Princess Margaret, “we are very excited because Richard [Olivier’s son] has spoken his first word And it’s such a relief because it was ‘Dada’ and Larry is so happy”. And Princess Margaret said, ‘’well as it happens, David has just spoken his first word too... David’s first word was ‘chandelier’.”’
Brandreth explains that the then Viscount Linley was apparently inspired by the chandelier that was hung above his crib in Kensington Palace. Apparently it was the royal nannies who would gesture at the chandelier, as if it was a mobile. One day the young Viscount Linley repeated: ‘chandelier’.
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Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon lived at the London palace with their son and daughter, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (now Lady Sarah Chatto) from the 1960s. The couple divorced in 1978, when the children were teenagers. Both David and Sarah had a close relationship with their aunt Queen Elizabeth II and spent time with their cousins Prince Charles (now King Charles III), Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward growing up.
David Armstrong-Jones became 2nd Earl of Snowdon on the death of his father in 2017. The Earl is a furniture designer and owns the company LINLEY. Lord Snowdon is father to Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley and Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones, who made her debut on the cover of the May issue of Tatler.
