A GODCHILD of Princess Diana is to become the latest royal to champion a Hampshire state school.

Lady Alexandra Knatchbull is to take over from her father, Lord Brabourne, as patron of The Mountbatten School in Romsey.

The school was built on Broadlands Estate land donated by the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who officially opened it in 1974.

Earl Mountbatten, the school’s founder patron, designed the school uniform which includes his heraldic crest, the Order of the Garter on the blazer.

Following his assassination by the IRA in 1979, Earl Mountbatten’s grandson, then Lord Romsey who later succeeded to his father’s title of Lord Brabourne, became school patron.

Mountbatten head teacher Christopher Cox said: “We are grateful to Lord Brabourne for his steadfast support and ongoing interest in the school. However, it has been necessary for Lord Brabourne to reduce his public commitments.

“We are delighted, The Honourable Alexandra Knatchbull has accepted our invitation to become the school’s third Patron.”

Alexandra, who studied theology at Regent’s Park College Oxford, and International Security at Georgetown University in the USA is a Senior Analyst at FTI Consulting, a global business advisory firm is the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and a third cousin twice removed of the Queen.

Through Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, she is the third cousin of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.