What Princess Diana's Godchildren Are Doing Today
The late Princess Diana remains one of the most famous women in history, nearly three decades after her death. She won the world over with her beauty, style, and grace, and droves of people wanted to be in her presence. Nearly every intimate detail of her life was made public while she was a princess, and those that weren't, came to light after she had died. And while the salacious stories are intriguing to read, Diana actually had lots of loyal friends and family members that spoke highly of her, both while she was alive and after her death. In fact, many of them admired Diana so much that they asked her to be the godmother of their children.
Diana had 17 godchildren in total. Many of them are still part of the British aristocracy, but others are leading relatively normal lives — apart from having a world-famous godmother. Here's what some of Princess Diana's godchildren are up to today.
Prince Philippos is married
A Greek royal, Prince Philippos actually has several godparents. In addition to Princess Diana, his godparents include King Juan Carlos of Spain, Prince Michael of Greece, and Kyril, Prince of Preslav, among others. The prince had a christening ceremony in 1986 with his royal godparents in attendance. Fast forward more than 30 years and Prince Philippos is married to Princess Nina (née Flohr). Prince Philippos officially has no jurisdiction in Greece and neither does his family; Greece abolished its monarchy in the early 1970s. The family did get to keep their titles, however.
Although the Greek royal family doesn't have any actual power anymore (royally speaking, that is — the family is still incredibly wealthy and has a prominent place in society), Prince Philippos' nuptials were fit for royalty. The Prince and Princess celebrated their marriage with three separate weddings, including a traditional ceremony in Athens in 2021. Royals from around the world attended the wedding, including Queen Sofia of Spain, Princess Eugenie, and Princess Beatrice. The bride stunned in Chanel and wore a family tiara for the occasion.
Lady Alexandra Hooper is a mother
Lady Alexandra Hooper (née Knatchbull) has a long history with the Windsors. Her great-grandfather, Lord Mountbatten, was Prince Philip's uncle. Her grandfather, Lord Brabourne, was Prince Philip's godson and Prince William's godfather. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were at her wedding, and then-Prince Charles walked her down the aisle. And of course, Princess Diana was her godmother. Lady Alexandra's family members are so close to the Windsors, some of them were portrayed on season 5 of "The Crown." When Lady Alexandra was a child, her sister, Leonora Knatchbull, died of cancer, and the story is featured in the Netflix original.
Now Lady Alexandra is married to Thomas Hooper, and the aforementioned wedding was a major societal event. "They've put in a huge amount of effort, thought and care into it. It's got that personal touch. It's very much what they wanted and what the bride wanted," Reverend Canon Timothy Sledge said of their nuptials, per the Telegraph. Lady Alexandra and Thomas, the founder and CEO of Third Space Learning, a London-based math education company, met while they were both employed at FTI Consulting, where Lady Alexandra still works. The two now have two children: Inigo Norton Sebastian Mountbatten, born in 2017; and Alden Peter Theodore Mountbatten, born in 2020.
Sussy Cazalet is a designer
Sussy Cazalet knew Princess Diana by way of her mother, Isabel Dawnay, who was a childhood friend of the late princess. Cazalet now works as a designer, and many people in her life have had an impact on her work. "My mother's a painter, my sister's a painter, my brother's a poet ... this led to designing furniture and the interest in product," Cazalet told Lampoon. Cazalet's main art form is rug design, though she does make furniture and wall hangings, too. Cazalet produces custom pieces, saying, "When people ask me to design a rug, I say this rug has got to be something that you want to keep for the rest of your life."
Cazalet is continuously working toward her goals, and in 2023, she achieved one she'd had for quite some time. As she said on Instagram, "Thank you to all my friends, loved ones & fellow designers who supported me through my show — I have dreamt of doing a show for many years & feel so grateful to have been given such a beautiful space to present my pieces." Cazalet is also a classically-trained musician, and she earned a degree in interior architecture from Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Leonora Lonsdale is a director
Princess Diana's godchildren have largely become very successful individuals. Her goddaughter Leonora Lonsdale now works as a director and has her own production company called Lief. Per a quote featured on her website, "Leonora is known for creating immersive, visually rich worlds full of character and portraying authentic relationships onscreen." Some of Leonora's works include "Black Dog, Red Dog," whose all-star cast included Olivia Wilde, James Franco, Chloë Sevigny, Logan Marshall-Green, and Whoopi Goldberg; as well as the 2022 BBC series "Dangerous Liaisons."
"Dangerous Liaisons," a period piece, received lots of attention for its costumes. As the costume designer Andrea Flesch told British Vogue, "I mostly took inspiration from paintings, especially those by Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, Alexander Roslin, Gilbert Stuart, Jean-Étienne Liotard, Henry Robert Morland, Joshua Reynolds and Louis Tocqué." Leonora had a vision for the costumes, too. "Leonora wanted us to stick to the period, which was very ornate, but also present that in the simplest way, at a lower register, so it feels a little more modern. We didn't want to overwhelm viewers," Flesch added. Leonora's mother, Laura Lonsdale, was flatmates with Princess Diana at one time.
Lady Edwina Snow is working on prison reform
Princess Diana was both born into and married into wealth, so it should come as no surprise that many of her godchildren were, too. Lady Edwina Snow (née Grosvenor), the oldest of Princess Diana's godchildren, is the daughter of the late billionaire Gerald Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster. Lady Edwina is well aware of her position in this world. As she told The Guardian, "I cannot escape the fact that I am a wealthy person and the daughter of a duke and duchess, because I am, and I'm not apologetic about that. You can be embarrassed about it or you can forget about it ... At the end of the day I think people should be judged on what they do and how they do it."
And what Lady Edwina is doing is working on prison reform. She founded OneSmallThing, a non-profit organization whose "mission is to redesign the justice system for women and their children," per its website. Prior to that, Lady Edwina worked with multiple people and organizations, including the Bishop for Prisons, the Corston Coalition of Independent Funders, and the Women's Advisory Board for Female Offenders, with prison reform being her main focus throughout.
Jake Warren is a friend of Prince Harry's
At least one of Princess Diana's godchildren grew up to be friends with her kids. Jake Warren is a good friend of Prince Harry's; the two went to both Ludgrove School and Eton College together. Warren's mother, Carolyn Herbert, was a flatmate of Princess Diana's. Warren has continued the legacy of having a Windsor act as godparent to a Warren child, too. Prince Harry is Warren's daughter's godfather, and she was a bridesmaid at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding.
These days, Warren works for Highclere Stud, a UK-based stud farm. "Highclere Stud is one of the places I'm most happy. Just looking at yearlings there on a Sunday afternoon," Warren told Gentleman's Journal. Highclere Stud, a Warren family business, is responsible for the horses owned by the royal family.
Warren, who shared with the publication that he used to skip school to attend horse races, is driven to continue Highclere Stud's reputation of excellence. "I solely want to keep driving Highclere to the top of the industry," Warren said. And he appears to care a great deal about the horses, too. "I'm always excited to see any of our purchases, bred or sold horses run ... There's always plenty to keep track of, and it's exciting [to] watch our horses live up to expectations and achieve incredibly bright futures," Warren added.
George Frost is a businessman
One of Princess Diana's good friends was Sir David Paradine Frost OBE, a former British television host. He interviewed prime ministers, presidents, musicians, and athletes. Diana was the godmother of his son, George Frost. Sir David died of a heart attack in 2013, much to the surprise of his children. At the time of his father's death, George was preparing to launch his own brand of rum. "He had taught us that if you really believe in something, sweating, bleeding, crying for it is fine," George told The Daily Mail of his father's impact.
Just two years after George's father died, his brother, Miles Frost, died of a heart attack, too. After the devastating losses of two members of their family, the Frosts set up the Miles Frost Fund, which works with the British Heart Fund to raise money to fund heart research. "Every day, I realise more and more how special my bond was with them and I hold on to the feeling that I was lucky to have had that," George said of his father and brother. When he's not working on the Miles Frost Fund, George is working on his rum business, The Duppy Share.
Edward Downpatrick sells menswear
Many of Princess Diana's godchildren have titles, including Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick. The lord goes by Eddy Downpatrick, and he is the Duke of Kent's grandson, making him a cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth II. But Eddy is making certain that's not all he's known for. A man who has a great affinity for Scotland and its people, Eddy has been working as a fashion designer ever since dreaming up the idea while in Scotland. "It was a very hot day and I hadn't brought any water with me and whether I was beginning to hallucinate or not, I began to have ideas for T-shirts and jackets and jumpers that I might like to put together one day," Eddy told Tatler. Prior to launching his brand, FIDIR, which sells men's clothing, bags, and accessories, Eddy was working for JP Morgan.
When Eddy isn't working, he's traveling. The lord noted in Tatler that he's taken trips to Norway, Ethiopia, Austria, and more, and that one of his favorite activities while traveling is hiking. "There is something more rewarding about it. It's just you and the mountain. Often you end up talking with strange things like a stream or a bird or marmot," he said.
Lady Mary Luise Wellesley is an author
Not all of Princess Diana's godchildren are published authors. That distinction belongs to Lady Mary Luise Wellesley, who goes professionally by Mary Wellesley. Wellesley's books, "Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and Their Makers," and "The Gilded Page: The Secret Lives of Medieval Manuscripts," were published in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Her main focus is studying and educating people about medieval times, and when she's not writing, Wellesley is posting educational infographics and artwork from medieval times to her Instagram page, or she's delivering a lecture on the subject. "Nothing says medieval historian like a striped jumpsuit. Such a joy to speak in the beautiful Wessex centre of #winchestercathedral last night, ranging through the exquisite pages of the #winchesterbible," she captioned a photo of herself delivering one of her lectures.
Wellesley belongs to the Wellington family. Her parents are Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington and Princess Antonia, Duchess of Wellington, and while Wellesley is one of five children, she is the only one of her siblings to have the honor of being Princess Diana's godchild.