Born in London, she is the only daughter of Reginald Eastwood (1912–1980), founder of
Angus Steakhouse,[2] and Marian Hood (1926–2020). She had one younger brother, Peter Eastwood (1955–2013). She grew up and was educated in Switzerland. In 1976, she graduated from the
London School of Economics.[3]
Activities
In 2010, she succeeded her husband in the honorary position of
High Steward of
Romsey after he stepped down due to illness.[4] The position had previously been filled by the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. She was inaugurated on 2 March 2011.[5][6] Following the death of her daughter, she founded
Leonora Children's Cancer Fund which in 2010 merged with The Edwina Mountbatten Trust, founded in memory of Leonora's great-grandmother. The merged charities were renamed The Edwina Mountbatten and Leonora Children's Foundation on 20 February 2014. She has taken on the running of Broadlands following her husband's diagnosis with
Alzheimer's disease.
Lady Mountbatten and her husband have three children and three grandchildren:
Nicholas Louis Charles Norton Knatchbull, Lord Brabourne (born 15 May 1981), his father's
heir apparent; married Ambre Pouzet on 20 May 2021 at
Broadlands. They have one son:
The Hon. Alexander Knatchbull (born June 2022)[12]
Lady Alexandra Victoria Edwina Diana Hooper (née Knatchbull; born 5 December 1982); a goddaughter of
Diana, Princess of Wales. She married Thomas Edward Huntly Hooper on 25 June 2016, at
Romsey Abbey.[10] They have two sons:
Inigo Norton Sebastian Mountbatten Hooper (born 21 December 2017)
Alden Peter Theodore Mountbatten Hooper (born 27 March 2020)[13]
The Hon. Leonora Louise Marie Elizabeth Knatchbull (25 June 1986 – 22 October 1991). She died of
kidney cancer at the age of five years and is buried in the grounds of the family home,
Broadlands. The charity
Leonora Children's Cancer Fund was founded in her memory.
From her marriage in 1979 until her father-in-law's death in 2005 she was styled as Lady Romsey and from then until her mother-in-law's death in 2017 as The Lady Brabourne.
In popular culture
Lady Mountbatten is portrayed by
Natascha McElhone in the
fifth season of the
Netflix series The Crown.[14] She first appears in episode one of season five and becomes more prominent as the season progresses, becoming a central part of the plot in episode six.[15]