Samuel Chatto, the grandson of Princess Margaret who is a pottery artist and yoga instructor

A  free spirit who has inherited the family’s artistic talents, Samuel Chatto, is the son of Lady Sarah and Daniel Chatto and the eldest of Princess Margaret’s grandchildren.

Samuel David Benedict Chatto, better known as Sam, 27, was born on July 28, 1996, at Portland Hospital in London.

He was brought up in Kensington, London, and was sent to Eton College when he was 11 years old – like many other members of the royal family, including his brother Arthur and Princes William and Harry.

The now 27-year-old then went on to study History of Art at the University of Edinburgh and graduated in 2018.

As the grandson Princess Margaret, Sam sits at 29th in line to the British throne

Princess Margaret’s eldest grandchild left a career in the art market to become a craftsman

Samuel Chatto, better known as Sam, was born on July 28 at Portland Hospital in London in 1999. He is pictured with his mother and father, Lady Sarah and Daniel Chatto 

Following the completion of his degree, the royal undertook a six-week apprenticeship at North Shore Pottery in Scotland and is now carving a career for himself as a potter.

Explaining that he had put aside his creative ventures while studying, he set up his own ceramics studio in 2019.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2019, he said: ‘I’m working in clay to create functional and sculptural wood-fired ceramics from my home and studio in West Sussex.

‘I’ve always had a strong affinity with creating objects, having spent much of my childhood crafting imagined landscapes and sculptural models, which naturally led me to clay during my later years at school.

‘My creative practice took a back seat while I studied History of Art at Edinburgh, but was revived, in the summer of 2017, by a visit to North Shore Pottery [in Caithness].

‘Inspired by what I had seen in Scotland, and completely uninspired by my three-month job in the commercial art market, I spent my weekends setting up a small home studio to rediscover my creativity and built a wood-fired kiln at the bottom of my garden.

‘The decision to start selling my work comes from a strong belief in the power of beautiful, well-made objects to enrich and enhance our lives.’

Sam, left, was brought up in Kensington, London, with his parents and brother, Arthur, and was sent to Eton College when he was 11 years old

Lady Sarah Chatto walking about and about in London with sons Arthur Chatto (in pushchair) and Samuel Chatto in July 2001

Samuel Chatto with his mother Lady Sarah Chatto at the Mey Highland Games in August 2019

Sam is a yoga teacher. He underwent 200 hours of training and spent time in India to gain the qualification

Aside from his career as a potter, Sam has also explored other options and previously trained as a yoga instructor in India with his then-girlfriend, Sophie Pipe.

In a 2019 Instagram post, the great-nephew of the late Queen Elizabeth revealed that he completed six weeks’ worth of training hours in India. 

‘It was an incredibly eye-opening experience which I am so deeply grateful for,’ he wrote at the time.

Devoting himself to ‘feeding his soul’ and following a vegan diet, he was previously in the habit of sharing motivational posts on Instagram.

This included a post where he was pictured in the foothills of the Himalayas and at the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, where he donned a traditional Arabic keffiyeh, stood next to a police officer and gushed: ‘My life is complete.’

The pair were said to have dated for more than four years, however, they have since broken up and older photos of them together have been taken down from their respective social media profiles.

Arthur and Sam attended the Queen’s funeral last year with their parents Daniel (front left) and Lady Sarah

Sam and his younger brother Arthur inside Westminster Abbey 

Sam is the eldest child of Lady Sarah Chatto, Princess Margaret’s daughter, and Daniel Chatto

After splitting up with Sophie, his first serious girlfriend who is now a gardener, he found a girlfriend in Eleanor Ekserdjian, another Edinburgh University graduate and daughter of an art professor.

An artist herself, she has collaborated on a project with Sam, who has also featured as the subject of some of her work, and the pair were snapped together at Tatler’s Little Black Book party in November last year.

Sam has also shared his close relationship with his younger brother Arthur on social media, posting a picture of the pair on the day of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding and writing: ‘I love you bro (and I’m not just saying that cos you’re so big you could squish me).’

Sam is pictured with girlfriend Eleanor (far left), his father Daniel  and his mother Sarah in 2022

Sam is now with fellow artist and Edinburgh University graduate, Eleanor Ekserdjian. They are pictured at Tatler’s Little Black Book party last year

Over the years, the royal has shared his journey through life on his social media accounts – having accumulated quite a fanbase with his 98k followers on Instagram.

While senior and more prominent members of the royal family often only have official social media pages, Sam is allowed to have his own personal page because of his lower standing in the hierarchy of succession.

As the son of Lady Sarah Chatto, who is the only daughter of the late Countess of Snowdon, Princess Margaret, Sam currently sits as 29th in line to the British throne.

Source link