Princess Margaret‘s heartthrob grandson Sam Chatto has announced his engagement to fellow artist Eleanor Ekserdjian, revealing he proposed with a porcelain ring he crafted himself.

The King has been informed and is said to be very happy for the couple, who are planning to wed next spring.

Ceramicist Sam, 29, who is 30th in line to the British throne, is the son of Queen Elizabeth II’s niece, Lady Sarah Chatto, and her husband Daniel Chatto.

He shared the news on Instagram, writing: ‘I’m really delighted to say that Ellie and I are engaged. And we couldn’t be happier. I proposed with a porcelain ring which I made.’

Ms Ekserdjian, 29, who is known as Ellie, is a painter and film artist, and the pair live together in London.

Lady Sarah Chatto and Daniel Chatto, and Ms Ekserdjian’s parents, Professor David Ekserdjian and Susan Moore, are said to be delighted at the news.

Samuel and Eleanor are thought to have met in 2021 while both attending the University of Edinburgh and have been pictured together since 2022.

Eleanor has been warmly welcomed into the extended Royal Family, joining Samuel at the wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling in June and at Sandringham for Christmas in 2024.

Samuel Chatto – the heartthrob grandson of the late Princess Margaret – has announced his engagement to his university sweetheart, Eleanor Ekserdjian

The unique engagement ring given to the bride, who is known as Ellie and lives in the capital with Samuel, was made in porcelain by the royal

Her appearance at the Firm’s festive celebrations sparked rumours that the artist had already proposed to his future wife because partners traditionally do not attend the service unless they are married or engaged.

Harriet attended with Peter after their engagement in December and Meghan Markle had joined Prince Harry in 2017 while the pair were engaged.

However, the couple never commented on the rumours.

Eleanor also joined Sam at the Mey Highland Games in Caithness, Scotland, in August last year, alongside his mother and her cousin King Charles.

In 2021, Eleanor confirmed her relationship with Sam to the Diary Editor of the Daily Mail, Richard Eden, simply stating, ‘We are a couple.’

Inspired by her new love, the arts professor’s daughter had started depicting Sam in her work.

Sam and Eleanor posed for photos together at ‘The Alchemist’s Feast’, the inaugural summer party and fundraiser for the National Gallery’s Bicentenary campaign in 2022.

After Christmas 2024, Sam and Eleanor were seen together again in February 2025 at London Fashion Week.

Sam showed support for his girlfriend, whose creative mind brought to life the Banshee of Savile Row runway show.

During the show, she decorated a coat with brushstrokes live on the runway.

Sam later took to Instagram to gush and pay tribute to his artistic girlfriend, posting a video of her in action at the show.

Both Eleanor, a ‘painter and film artist’ and Sam, a ceramicist, are graduates of the University of Edinburgh and studied at the Royal Drawing School in London.

Eleanor revealed to Eden that Sam had become her artistic muse, and included a sketch of him, entitled ‘SAM’, in a small collection of her works – once displayed at an exhibition at London’s Gallery at Green & Stone.

The pair are both passionate about their creative ventures. Sam completed an apprenticeship in Japan under professional potter Yagi Akira just last year.

His partner is just as ardent about her work. She has had her pieces held in several private collections, including the Redfern Gallery in London.

Eleanor’s parents are also in the field, with her father being renowned art historian Professor David Ekserdjian, who is married to Financial Times art critic Susan Moore.

David is Professor of History of Art and Film at the University of Leicester, focusing particularly on the art of the Italian Renaissance.

He is a trustee of Art UK as well as the Sir John Soane’s Museum. The academic was also once a trustee of the National Gallery and of Tate.

Eleanor herself has also completed residencies at the Hauser & Wirth Residency in Braemar and the Sokyo Gallery in Kyoto, Japan.

According to her website, Eleanor is ‘an abstract painter and film artist’ whose practice ‘involves projecting the moving image onto paper or canvas and drawing from and over it, her physical and emotional responses being made visible through rapid mark-making’.

Eton-educated ceramicist Sam comes from an artistic family himself: his mother, the King’s cousin Lady Sarah Chatto (nee Armstrong-Jones) often submits her artworks for the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition, while his father is the actor-turned-artist Daniel Chatto. His grandfather was renowned photographer Lord Snowdon.

Sam is also a qualified yoga instructor having trained for six weeks in India with then-girlfriend Sophie Pipe, who also studied at Edinburgh University.

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 grew up mostly away from the royal spotlight in Kensington, London. As his grandmother once said about his mother and uncle: ‘My children aren’t royal, they just happen to have the Queen as an aunt.’