Happy Birthday James Ogilvy

1964 - traditionally considered either the last year of the Baby Boom or the first year of Generation X - saw something of a bumper crop of royal babies; in all, four were born during that twelve months, including HRH The Earl of Wessex, Lady Sarah Chatto (the daughter of Princess Margaret), Lady Helen Taylor (whose nickname in the Eighties was 'Melons'), and possibly the most minor of the so-called minor royals, James Ogilvy.


Despite his distance from the throne (at present he is 35th in the succession) and the fact that he possesses no titles whatsoever, Ogilvy is nonetheless a fascinating footnote in the history of the British monarchy - he is thought to be the only royal baby in history to be born a leapling.

Born to the Queen's cousin Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy and her husband Sir Angus Ogilvy at their home Thatched House Lodge outside London and married to Julia Caroline Rawlinson in 1988 (with whom he has two children, Alexander and Flora) Ogilvy is currently the publisher of Luxury Briefing, a magazine for those working the upper end of the carriage trade.

So low is James Ogilvy's profile that even a sycophant as panting as I was unable to find a picture to adorn this post, forcing me to make a reFoto to accompany the story.