- "I played the 'I love you more game' and won."
- ―Ernest Bunbury II on his relationship with Luna van Deurs
Ernest Bunbury II, Viscount Bunbury is the youngest child and only son of George Bunbury, 8th Earl of Harewood, and his first wife, Elizabeth Bell. He is the first cousin, twice removed, of Queen Elizabeth II, the great-great-grandson of King George V and is 59th in line to the British throne.
Early Life
Viscount Bunbury was born in Hackwood Park in Basingstoke, Hampshire. He was baptised at All Saints' Church, Harewood. His godparents are Prince Richard and Birgitte, the Earl and Countess of Harewood.
At the time of his birth, he was 30th in the line of succession to the throne. He is 59th as of June 2018. While there were speculations that the passing of the Succession to the Crown Act would put the Viscount at 60th, the act only replaced male-preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture for those born in the line of succession after 28 October 2011, to be in accordance with the 2011 Perth Agreement. As a result, while Ernest is the youngest child of the Bunbury family, he takes priority to the throne over his older sister, Mary. Up until Ernest's birth, Mary was the heir-apparent to her father's Earldom, but the law of primogeniture only allows women to inherit Earldom if she has no brothers or nephews.
Ernest's two oldest sisters, Emily and Alexandra were born out of wedlock and therefore have no claims to the Harewood titles, nor places in the line of succession to the British throne. Though they were born illegitimate, Emily and Alexandra were later legitimised by the Privy Council and given the titles befitting children of a viscount (and after their father inherited the family earldom, of an earl), though not the rank that would come from being born in wedlock. This means that although Emily and Alexandra enjoy the style and formal address of "Lady Emily" and "Lady Alexandra", neither of them is entitled to any claims on the Harewood titles.
Ernest's parents divorced in 2002. His mother died in a car crash in Paris the following year. At his mother's funeral, Ernest, then 12, accompanied his father, sister, paternal grandfather, and maternal uncle, David Humbert, in walking behind the funeral cortège from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey. A few months after his wife's funeral, Ernest's father began seeing Marguerite Alibert and married her after three weeks. In an interview for his first novel, The Doormat, the viscount acknowledged that he sought counseling after years of "total chaos" while struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother.
Education
Like his father and sisters, Ernest was educated at independent schools. He started at London's Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School. Following this, he attended Ludgrove School in Berkshire. After passing the entrance exams, he was admitted to Eton College. There, he studied English Literature, Spanish, and Mathematics at A-Level, obtaining an 'A' in English Literature and Spanish, and a 'B' in Mathematics.
After completing his studies at Eton, Ernest took a gap year, during which entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst by the demand of his father. The academy develops leadership in cadets by expanding their character, intellect and professional competences to a level demanded of an Army Officer on first appointment through military training and education. The course is accredited by various academic and professional institutions.[1] The Commissioning Course lasts 44 weeks and must be successfully completed by all British regular army officers (with some exceptions) before they receive their commission. It is usually followed by further training courses specific to the Regiment or Corps in which the officer will serve.