Wedding Date Fixed for the Duke of Noto and Lady Charlotte Lindesay-Bethune!

The engaged couple.

Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Noto, and Lady Charlotte Diana Lindesay-Bethune will marry in Palermo on 25 September 2021. Their union will take place ninety years after the 1931 nuptials of the Count and Countess of Paris, the groom’s great-grandparents, and in the same location. Jaime and Charlotte’s engagement was announced in May 2020. 

 
 

Don Jaime de Borbón y Landaluce was born at Madrid on 26 June 1992 as the first child of Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (b.1968) and Doña Sofía Landaluce y Melgarejo (b.1973). Jaime’s parents married on 30 March 2001 at the Club de Hierro, Madrid, in an intimate ceremony attended by their family and close friends. In due time, Jaime was joined by six younger siblings: Juan (b.2003), Pablo (b.2004), Pedro (b.2007), Sofía (b.2008), Blanca (b.2011), and Maria (b.2015).

 
Anne and Carlos
 
 

The paternal grandparents of Prince Jaime, Duke of Noto, are the Infante Don Carlos of Spain, Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria (1938-2015), and Princess Anne d’Orléans (b.1938). The maternal grandparents of Prince Jaime are Don José Manuel Landaluce y Dominguez (b.1944) and Doña Blanca Melgarejo y Gonzales (1946-2009). Jaime is a great-grandson of the late Count and Countess of Paris.

 
Anne and Carlos
 
 

The paternal grandparents of Prince Jaime, Duke of Noto, are the Infante Don Carlos of Spain, Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria (1938-2015), and Princess Anne d’Orléans (b.1938). The maternal grandparents of Prince Jaime are Don José Manuel Landaluce y Dominguez (b.1944) and Doña Blanca Melgarejo y Gonzales (1946-2009). Jaime is a great-grandson of the late Count and Countess of Paris. Jaime’s grandfather the Infante Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria, did not recognise the marriage of Pedro and Sofía as equal. In May 2002, a delegate of the Spanish branch of the Constantinian Order of Saint George wrote the following regarding the couple’s union: “The marriage of the Duke of Noto was not authorised in accordance with the requirements of the Law on marriages of the Two Sicilies of 1829. No formal authorisation was given, the marriage did not conform to past precedents in the House, and the invitations were issued in the name of the bride and groom rather than jointly with the groom’s parents. The descendants of this marriage will not therefore be Two Sicilies dynasts.” Two years later, on June 2004, the same representative of the order, who was also a friend of the late Infante D. Carlos, stated: “D. Sofia is accorded the title of ‘Duchess of Noto’, but the children are not T-S dynasts; they are however Spanish dynasts. In the view of the Infante D. Carlos, they are Excelentisimo Senores.” However, at some unknown date, presumably in or after 2004, the Infante D. Carlos decided to recognise the marriage of his son and daughter-in-law as dynastic. This change of heart was influenced by the Infante’s first cousin and dear friend King Juan Carlos of Spain granting approval for the 2004 marriage of the Prince of Asturias, now King Felipe VI of Spain, to Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, now Queen Letizia of Spain. Since this retroactive demorganatisation, the children of the Duke and Duchess of Noto (titled Duke and Duchess of Calabria since 2015) bear the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince(ss) of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

 
The 16th Earl of Lindsay
 

Lady Charlotte Diana Lindesay-Bethune was born on 12 May 1993 as the youngest child of the 16th Earl of Lindsay (James Randolph Lindesay-Bethune; b.1955) and the Countess of Lindsay (née Diana Mary Chamberlayne-Macdonald; b.1961). Lady Charlotte’s parents’ married on 2 March 1982. The couple have four other children: Lady Frances Lindesay-Bethune(b.1986); Lady Alexandra Lindesay-Bethune (b.1988); the Honourable William Lindesay-Bethune, Viscount Garnock (b.1990); and the Honourable David Lindesay-Bethune (b.1993; twin brother of Lady Charlotte).

 
David, 15th Earl of Lindsay
The Douglas-Scott-Montagu family by Bassano Ltd in 1934.
Photograph (c) National Portrait Gallery.

The paternal grandparents of Lady Charlotte Lindesay-Bethune are David Lindesay-Bethune, 15th Earl of Lindsay (1926-1989) and the Honourable Mary-Clare Douglas-Scott-Montagu (1928-2016). The maternal grandparents of Lady Charlotte are Major Nigel Chamberlayne-Macdonald (1927-2013) and Penelope Chamberlayne (b.1932).