William Stanhope, Viscount Petersham


William Henry Leicester Stanhope, Viscount Petersham is the son of Charles Stanhope, 12th Earl of Harrington and his first wife, Virginia Freeman-Jackson. He is the heir apparent to his father's Earldom of Harrington.

Personal life

Stanhope was born on 14 October 1967 in Limerick, Ireland to the then-Viscount Petersham and his wife Virginia Freeman-Jackson, a debutante. His parents divorced when he was 16 years old. He has one younger sister, Serena Armstrong-Jones, Countess of Snowdon, who is a niece-by-marriage of Queen Elizabeth II. Through his father, he is a descendant of King Charles II of England's illegitimate child, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton.
Stanhope spent most of his childhood between Chelsea with his father and his father's girlfriend and later wife Anita Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and Monaco with his mother.
He went to Aysgarth School in North Yorkshire. After leaving Aysgarth School, he went on to study at Aiglon College in Switzerland.

Marriage and children

On 28 April 2001, Stanhope married Candida Sophia Bond in Gloucestershire. They have two children together: