Earl of Devon broadcasts engagement to ‘great’ property agent girlfriend three years after separating from his Baywatch actress spouse
The Earl of Devon separated from his wife, a former Baywatch actress, after she voiced her shock at how her ‘hippy, feminist husband’ had turned into a ‘patriarchal’ aristocrat.
Now, the earl, Charles Courtenay, 50, has found love with the ex-wife of one of Britain’s top racehorse trainers.
He’s become engaged to Jemima Hannon, 43, whose former husband, Richard Hannon, trained horses for owners including Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson and Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, of Qatar.
‘We are pleased to announce that Charlie, Earl of Devon, and his wonderful girlfriend, Jemima Hannon, are engaged,’ confirms his spokesman. ‘Along with their four children, they are delighted to unite their families and look forward to the many joys ahead.’
Bristol University graduate Jemima, a former three-day eventer, met her previous husband through her love of horses. She later became an estate agent and co-founded a business that buys country houses for clients.
None of those properties will, however, be as impressive as Powderham Castle, a Devon landmark near Exeter, where she will live with the earl. It has its own deer park on the banks of the River Exe.
The earl separated from the countess, Allison Joy Langer, in 2023. Known as AJ, the American actress married him in 2005 after they met in Las Vegas, where he was on a rugby tour.
He’s become engaged to Jemima Hannon, 43, whose former husband, Richard Hannon, trained horses for owners including Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson and Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, of Qatar. Jemima and Richard in 2009
The earl separated from the countess, Allison Joy Langer, in 2023. Known as AJ, the American actress (pictured in 1998) married him in 2005 after they met in Las Vegas, where he was on a rugby tour
The earl, Charles Courtenay, 50, has found love with the ex-wife of one of Britain’s top racehorse trainers. Both pictured together
They set up home in California but moved into Powderham when his father, the 18th Earl of Devon, died in 2015. The countess, who appeared in the second series of Baywatch and also starred in the US drama My So-Called Life, spoke publicly of her struggle to adjust to life in Britain.
‘I may have underestimated the realities for myself,’ she admitted. ‘It was the same for my husband, who had been my hippy, feminist husband in California for ten years.
‘I was, like, “Where did my hippy, feminist husband go?” And all of a sudden these patriarchal things start coming out of his mouth. I’m, like, “Who are you? Where’s my Charlie?’ So it’s a lot of recalibrating.”‘
The couple moved to Britain with their two children, Lady Joscelyn Courtenay, now aged 19, and Jack, Lord Courtenay, 16, and opened Powderham’s grounds for pop and rock concerts. But they announced their separation in 2023.
Three years earlier, she had described her move to this country ‘like an anthropological study of the culture’.
Speaking on the podcast Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did, she said her father-in-law’s funeral was ‘like The Godfather, it was extraordinary’.
She explained: ‘It was 800 people coming into the castle, and all lined up just to shake [the new Earl’s] hand. I’d learnt a lot over the 12 years that we’d been together, but I think I’d underestimated the step. Here I was in the middle of a really intense, very, very deep-rooted patriarchy. And so it’s been really fascinating.’
