#2236, Emma Joy KITCHENER-FELLOWES

Emma is the great great niece of the 1st Earl Kitchener and niece of 3rd Earl Kitchener.  Like her husband she is a screen-writer.  She met her husband at a dinner in 1989.  Story has it that he knew instantly that he wished to marry her and proposed just 20 minutes after they met.  She rejected him, even refusing her phone number, but he persisted and they married a year later.  She is a former lady in waiting to Princess Michael of Kent and in 2000 became a lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order.

Julian says that his marriage was responsible for his career taking off and that this happened without the traditional good looks expected of famous people.  His brother Rory was reputed to look like Terence Stamp.  A nice little story is told of Julian and Emma at a party over-hearing two women decrying the shortage of men for a party they were planning.  One suggested the Fellowes brothers, to which the other retorted 'the trouble is that to get the good-looking one we have to ask the other as well!'

As the 3rd Earl died without male issue the Earldom failed.  In May 2012 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II issued a royal warrant of precedence granting Lady Fellowes the same rank and style as the daughter of an earl but the injustce of a female being prohibited from inheriting a title is difficult to understand, not least because the Succession to the Crown Act had been rushed through Parliament so that Prince William's eldest child could accede to the throne regardless of gender.  The Earls of Durham, Balfour and Fortescue joined Lord and Lady Fellowes in appealing to Government for the position to be rectified.  Women could inherit real estate, chattels and money so why not titles?  In days of rampant gender equality the Government's explanation that it was too complicated seems absurd.

In commenting on the issue Lord Fellowes said that we should either get rid of the whole system or let women in.  Currently, we have the worst of both worlds.