Lady Amanda Patricia Victoria Ellingworth (''née'' Knatchbull; born 26 June 1957), styled The Honourable Amanda Knatchbull between 1957 and 1979, is a British social worker. In her early career she specialised in children's services and child protection. She has since held a portfolio of chair roles or directorships, working on behalf of vulnerable people, especially children. She is a director of

Plan International Plan International is a development and humanitarian organisation based in the United Kingdom that works in over 80 countries across Africa, the Americas, and Asia, focusing on children’s rights. In 2024, Plan International reached 43 million ...

Barnardo's Barnardo's is a global charity headquartered in Barkingside in the London Borough of Redbridge. It was founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each ye ...

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...

, and other organisations. Her previous roles include: chair of the Caldecott Foundation, chair of

The Guinness Partnership The Guinness Partnership is one of the largest providers of affordable housing and care in England. Founded as a charitable trust in 1890, it is now a Community Benefit Society with eight members. Bloomberg classify it as a real estate owner an ...

, founding chair of Guinness Care and Support, and deputy chair of

Yeovil Hospital Yeovil Hospital, previously known as Yeovil District Hospital, is a hospital in Yeovil, Somerset, England, managed by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital provides acute care for a population of about 180,000, people living in South Some ...

. She is a second cousin of

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

. The granddaughter of

Admiral of the Fleet An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was ...

, she is a descendant of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

through her daughter Princess Alice, Mountbatten's grandmother.

Early life and education

Ellingworth was born in London, the fifth of eight children of the 7th Baron Brabourne and the

2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma Patricia Edwina Victoria Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, Baroness Brabourne, , , (née Mountbatten; 14 February 1924 – 13 June 2017), was a British peeress and third cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. She was the elder daughter of A ...

. She is the granddaughter of

the

1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman, Royal Navy off ...

, who was an uncle of

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

and a second cousin once removed of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. She has five brothers and one sister. She was baptised by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

on 29 September 1957 at Mersham Parish Church in Mersham, Kent. Her godparents were Prince George of Hanover, Mrs. E. Heywood-Lonsdale, and Mrs. C. H. W. Troughton. Ellingworth earned a

BA Hons A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate education, undergraduate program in the liberal arts education, liberal arts, or, in some ca ...

degree from the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

, a CQSW qualification from Goldsmiths College, London, and a Certificate in Mandarin Language from the

Beijing Language Institute Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU; ) is a public university of linguistics in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China.The university has the main aim of teaching the Chinese language and cult ...

Career

After a first career as a social worker, Ellingworth has worked at a senior level in health services, children's services, adult social care and affordable housing. She currently holds several non-executive directorships. She was Chair of

, a provider of affordable housing until March 2016.

Personal life

Marriage and family

Lady Amanda married novelist and property entrepreneur Charles Vincent Ellingworth on 31 October 1987.

Relationship with Prince of Wales

Ellingworth's grandfather Lord Mountbatten recommended her as a potential bride for his grandnephew,

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

. Dimbleby, Jonathan. "The Prince of Wales: A Biography". William Morrow & Co. New York, 1994. pp. 204–06, 263–65, 299–300. . According to his biographer,

Jonathan Dimbleby Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. ...

, "In 1974, following his correspondence with Mountbatten on the subject, the Prince had tentatively raised the question of marriage to Amanda with her mother (and his godmother) Patricia Brabourne. She was sympathetic, but counselled against raising the issue with her daughter, who had yet to celebrate her seventeenth birthday." Mountbatten intended for himself and Lady Amanda to accompany Prince Charles on his planned 1980 tour of India. Both fathers disapproved and it was decided he should go alone. Before Prince Charles was to depart, Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA in August 1979. When Prince Charles returned, he proposed to Lady Amanda. However, in addition to her maternal grandfather, she had lost her paternal grandmother and younger brother

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

in the attack and now recoiled from the prospect of becoming a member of the royal family.

Ancestry

References and notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellingworth, Amanda 1957 births Living people British people of German-Jewish descent British women

Amanda Amanda is a Latin feminine gerundive (i.e. verbal adjective) name meaning, literally, "she who must (or is fit to) be loved". Other translations, with similar meaning, could be "deserving to be loved," "worthy of love," or "loved very much by ev ...

Daughters of barons Daughters of British earls Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the University of Kent Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London