4 days ago
Is another royal engagement on the cards? Fans sent into a frenzy as Princess Margaret's heartthrob grandson Samuel Chatto, 28, appears with his university sweetheart as they join King Charles in Scotland
Princess Margaret 's grandson has sparked royal engagement rumours after stepping out with his girlfriend alongside King Charles.
Samuel Chatto, son of Margaret's only daughter Lady Sarah Chatto, 61, has been dating Eleanor Ekserdjian for several years after the pair met at the University of Edinburgh.
The couple, both 28, are rarely seen in public together; however, royal fans were beside themselves when Eleanor joined Sam at the Mey Highland Games in Caithness, Scotland, over the weekend.
Their appearance has further fuelled the engagement rumours that were first sparked after Eleanor attended the regal Norfolk festivities on Christmas Day last year.
The event is not traditionally attended by partners of royal family members who are not yet married or engaged.
Sam enjoyed the Highland games alongside both his girlfriend and mother, King Charles' cousin, with whom he shares a close relationship.
He wore a red and green tartan kilt to match the King as well as a tweed blazer and waistcoat for the occasion.
Eleanor looked every bit the part of a potential new royal family member in her coordinated ensemble comprising a tweed jacket, white blouse, and black sating midi skirt.
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.
They were snapped alongside Sam's mother and father, Daniel Chatto, an artist and former actor who has been married to Lady Sarah since 1994.
At Christmas 2024, the couple set tongues wagging when Eleanor was pictured at Sandringham Castle alongside Sam's royal relatives.
King Charles appears to have followed the example of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, who permitted Meghan Markle to join the festive gathering in 2017 - five months before she exchanged vows with Prince Harry at St George's Chapel, Windsor.
Meghan was the first person to be allowed to spend Christmas at Sandringham before marrying into the Royal Family.
Kate Middleton, for instance, had to wait until after she became the Duchess of Cambridge, and Sophie Rhys-Jones did not stay before she married Prince Edward and received the Countess of Wessex title.
After Christmas, Sam and Eleanor were seen together again in February 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.
They have been rumoured to have been dating since 2021, but made their first public appearance together in 2022.
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 - and 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.
Her 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'.
Her most recent project explored 'cultural memory through landscape' and was created while she was at a six-week artist residency in Armenia.
A lot of her work is focused on the West Asian country's diaspora, especially creations from last year.
In an Instagram post about the project, which included a video interview with both her and Sam, she penned: 'Images from the opening night of the exhibition 'Imagined Landscapes' with @samchatto.
'I did a live performance drawing from the film I shot over six weeks travelling through Armenia.
'I cannot express how much it meant to me to see Armenia for the first time, or what it meant to share the experience with my father.
'Thank you to everyone at the Yerevan My Love Foundation and to all of the friends we made along the way who made this possible.
And it would seem other famous faces in The Firm are fans. Just this summer, Sarah Ferguson - the mother of Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice - took to Instagram to praise the pair.
'I believe in supporting young artists and really pushing them to show off the talent that they have to as big an audience as they can,' she penned.
'My friend Samuel Chatto's sculptures and the artwork of both Eleanor Ekserdjian and Nouneh Sarkissian are currently showing at The Redfern Gallery, and I'd urge you to go and have a look up close at the skill and craftsmanship that goes into creating such wonderful art.'
Eton-educated ceramicist Sam comes from an arty 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, and his father is the actor-turned-artist Daniel Chatto. His grandfather was renowned photographer Lord Snowdon.
Sam, who was left heartbroken when he split up with his first serious girlfriend during the Covid lockdowns, was invited to Buckingham Palace earlier this year for the State Banquet in honour of the emperor and empress of Japan.
Some of Sam's porcelain formed part of an exhibition in Somerset, mounted by Hauser & Wirth, the gallery of which his cousin, Princess Eugenie, is associate director.
