Lady Amanda Patricia Victoria Ellingworth (néeKnatchbull; born 26 June 1957), styledThe Honourable Amanda Knatchbull between 1957 and 1979, is a British social worker. In her early career she specialised in children's services and child protection. She has since held a portfolio of chair roles or directorships, working on behalf of vulnerable people, especially children. She is a director ofPlan International,^[2]Barnardo's,^[3]Great Ormond Street Hospital,^[4] and other organisations. Her previous roles include: chair of theCaldecott Foundation, chair ofThe Guinness Partnership, founding chair of Guinness Care and Support, and deputy chair ofYeovil Hospital.^[5]

She is a second cousin ofCharles III. The granddaughter ofAdmiral of the FleetLouis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, she is a descendant ofQueen Victoria through her daughterPrincess Alice, Mountbatten's grandmother.

Ellingworth was born in London, the fifth of eight children of the7th Baron Brabourne and the2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma. She is the granddaughter ofAdmiral of the Fleet the1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who was an uncle ofPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and a second cousin once removed ofQueen Elizabeth II. She has five brothers and one sister.^[6]

She was baptised by theArchbishop of Canterbury on 29 September 1957 at Mersham Parish Church inMersham, Kent. Her godparents werePrince George of Hanover, Mrs. E. Heywood-Lonsdale, and Mrs.C. H. W. Troughton.^[7]

Ellingworth earned aBA Hons degree from theUniversity of Kent, aCQSW qualification fromGoldsmiths College, London, and a Certificate in Mandarin Language from theBeijing Language Institute.^[8]

After a first career as a social worker, Ellingworth has worked at a senior level in health services, children's services, adult social care and affordable housing. She currently holds several non-executive directorships. She was Chair ofThe Guinness Partnership, a provider of affordable housing until March 2016.^[9][10]

Lady Amanda married novelist and property entrepreneur Charles Vincent Ellingworth on 31 October 1987.^[11]

Ellingworth's grandfather Lord Mountbatten recommended her as a potential bride for his grandnephew,Charles, Prince of Wales.^[12][13] According to his biographer,Jonathan Dimbleby, "In 1974, following his correspondence with Mountbatten on the subject, the Prince had tentatively raised the question of marriage to Amanda with her mother (and his godmother)Patricia Brabourne. She was sympathetic, but counselled against raising the issue with her daughter, who had yet to celebrate her seventeenth birthday."^[13]

Mountbatten intended for himself and Lady Amanda to accompany Prince Charles on his planned 1980 tour of India.^[13] Both fathers disapproved and it was decided he should go alone. Before Prince Charles was to depart,Mountbatten was assassinated by theIRA in August 1979. When Prince Charles returned, he proposed to Lady Amanda.^[13] However, in addition to her maternal grandfather, she had lost her paternal grandmother and youngest brotherNicholas in the attack and now recoiled from the prospect of becoming a member of the royal family.^[13]

• Portraits of Lady Amanda Ellingworth at theNational Portrait Gallery, London

• 1957 births
• Living people
• British people of German-Jewish descent
• British women
• Knatchbull family
• Daughters of barons
• Daughters of British earls
• Alumni of the University of Kent
• Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London

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