Charles Townshend, 8th Marquess Townshend

Who is Charles Townshend, 8th Marquess Townshend?

Charles George Townshend, 8th Marquess Townshend is the elder son of George Townshend, 7th Marquess Townshend, and his first wife Elizabeth Pamela Audrey, daughter of Thomas Luby. He was styled Viscount Raynham until he succeeded his father on 23 April 2010.

In 1975 Townshend married Hermione Ponsonby, daughter of Lt. Cmdr. Robert Martin Dominic Ponsonby, RN, of the family of the Earls of Bessborough, who died in a motor accident in 1985. In 1990 Townshend married Alison Marshall, née Combs, daughter of Sir Willis Ide Combs, KCVO, CMG.

By his first wife, Townshend has two children:

Thomas Charles, Viscount Raynham, married 15 April 2011 St Mary's Church, Kingsclere, Hampshire to Miss Octavia Christina Legge, daughter of Mr and Mrs Christopher Legge, of Kingsclere, Hampshire. Miss Legge's family family is apparently unrelated to the earls of Dartmouth, as far as researched.

Lady Louise Elizabeth Townshend, now Lady Louise Da Paixao, married Edson Da Paixao.

The current Marquess holds the subsidiary titles Viscount Townshend, of Raynham in the County of Norfolk and Baron Townshend, of Lynn Regis in the County of Norfolk both of which in the Peerage of England. He is also a Baronet, of Raynham in the County of Norfolk. As the subsidiary titles are of the same name as the primary title, the Viscountcy has been called "Viscount Raynham" and the Barony "Baron Lynn".