Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick

Downpatrick was born on 2 December 1988 at St Mary's Hospital, London, and grew up in Cambridge.[1][2] He is the eldest child of George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, son and heir apparent of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. Downpatrick's mother, Sylvana, Countess of St Andrews, is a Canadian historian of Austro-Italian and French extraction.[2][3] Diana, Princess of Wales, was Downpatrick's godmother,[4] but she died before he got to know her well.[2]

Downpatrick is close to his third cousin Princess Beatrice of York and to his younger sisters Lady Marina and Lady Amelia Windsor, a fashion model.[2] His great-grandmother Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, was the British royal family's fashion icon in the post-war era.[2]

Downpatrick was educated at Eton College and matriculated at Keble College, Oxford, where he studied Modern Languages with a specialisation in French and German. At Oxford he was the president of the Bullingdon Club.[4] He wanted to join the British Army after the university, but had not recovered from rugby injuries.[2]

Downpatrick first had the idea to launch a fashion brand while hiking in Scotland in 2009,[2] but decided to first focus on his studies and career as a financial analyst at JP Morgan.[4]

Downpatrick left JP Morgan and began working as a fashion designer in 2016. He is a co-founder and the creative director of the fashion label FIDIR, which he launched with Justine Dalby in 2017.[1][5][6] The brand is a collection of outdoor-wear and accessories.[7] He designs handbags, wallets, sweatshirts, wash bags, and T-shirts.[2][8] His designs are inspired by the Scottish Highlands.[9][10][11]

In 2003, aged 15, following the example of his grandmother the Duchess of Kent and his uncle Lord Nicholas Windsor, Downpatrick, who was baptised in the Church of England, chose to be confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church. He was therefore barred from the line of succession to the British throne according to the Act of Settlement 1701. As a first cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II, Downpatrick is the most senior person excluded from the line of succession for being a Roman Catholic. As of October 2020, he would have been 39th in line.[12] He remains second in the line of succession, after his father, to the Dukedom of Kent.[13][14]

In 2008, Downpatrick's sister Lady Marina followed his example and was confirmed in the Roman Catholic church.