Queen Elizabeth II's godson dies after suffering head injury - details

Lord Charles O'Hagan, the godson of the late Queen Elizabeth II, has passed away at the age of 79 after suffering a severe head injury.

An inquest opening in Exeter revealed that the former Conservative peer died on 23 March at the North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple.

The cause of death was attributed to a subdural hematoma, a condition often caused by head trauma. Lord O'Hagan held a close connection to the royal family as the godson of Queen Elizabeth II.

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Charles – full name Charles Towneley Strachey O'Hagan – served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Devon twice, from 1973 to 1975 and from 1979 to 1994. He also had a ceremonial role as a Page of Honour to the late Queen between 1959 and 1962.

Charles was educated at Eton College before attending New College, Oxford - where he graduated with a BA in 1961 and later an MA.

Royal connections

The late Queen Elizabeth became Charles' godparent when she was still Princess Elizabeth. His grandfather, Maurice Towneley-O'Hagan, 3rd Baron O'Hagan, was a well-known politician in the UK.

Charles was among the 30 godchildren of Queen Elizabeth, though not all of them have been revealed to the public. Among them are brother Earl Spencer and Princess Margaret's son David Armstrong-Jones.

Personal life

Charles was married three times; firstly, to the Georgian Princess Tamara Imeretinsky in 1967, before they divorced in 1984.

They had one daughter, Nino Natalia O'Hagan Strachey, who was born in 1968 and became an art historian and curator.

His second wife was Mary Claire Roose-Francis, whom he married in 1985—but they divorced ten years later in 1995.

Later that year, Charles married his third wife, Elizabeth Lesley Eve Smith.