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92<br />
Belle of the ball: Ella has<br />
blossomed from the little<br />
girl who appeared on the<br />
Buckingham Palace<br />
balcony with the Prince of<br />
Wales and the Duchess of<br />
Cornwall at Trooping the<br />
Colour in 2005 (inset top)<br />
into a beautiful 18-year-old<br />
who’s looking forward to<br />
her next public outing – her<br />
society debut next weekend<br />
at the annual debutante ball<br />
in Paris, Le Bal<br />
AT HER FAMILY’S STATELY HOME IN DEVON<br />
ELLA MOUNTBATTEN<br />
GETS READY TO MAKE HER GRAND<br />
ENTRANCE AT ‘LE BAL’ IN PARIS<br />
(LEFT) DRESS: ULRICH ENGLER. EARRINGS: FOLLI FOLLIE. ADDITIONAL PHOTO: ALPHA PRESS<br />
n 2005 a little girl appeared on<br />
Ithe Buckingham Palace balcony<br />
standing between the Prince of<br />
Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall<br />
at the end of Trooping the Colour.<br />
For Ella Mountbatten it was a<br />
thrilling occasion and one she<br />
remembers well.<br />
Ella, who has grown up quietly in<br />
Devon with her father Lord Ivar<br />
Mountbatten, mother Penny and<br />
siblings Alexandra, 16, and Louise,<br />
12, is looking forward to her next<br />
public outing – when she makes<br />
her society debut at the annual<br />
debutante ball in Paris, Le Bal, to be<br />
held on 29 November at the Palais<br />
de Chaillot.<br />
WELL CONNECTED<br />
The Mountbatten name resonates<br />
with history and the family’s<br />
connections are impeccable. Her<br />
grandfather, the 3rd Marquess of<br />
Milford Haven, was Prince Philip’s<br />
first cousin and best man at the<br />
Queen’s wedding and the family<br />
has many royal relatives via<br />
descendants of Queen Victoria.<br />
One of her godfathers is the Earl of<br />
Wessex and her father is godfather<br />
to Lady Louise Windsor, Prince<br />
Edward’s 11-year-old daughter.<br />
The family is included regularly<br />
in private royal events, but its lack of<br />
public profile means that Ella and<br />
her sisters have been able to lead a<br />
normal life. Nevertheless, tradition<br />
runs deep and it seemed appropriate<br />
to mark Ella’s 18th birthday this year<br />
with a formal occasion.<br />
“[Lady] Amelia Windsor [the<br />
daughter of the Earl of St Andrews]<br />
and my cousin [Lady] Tatiana<br />
Mountbatten both took part in Le<br />
Bal and it seems so glamorous,”<br />
says Ella at home in Bridwell Park<br />
in Devon. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime<br />
opportunity that not many people<br />
are able to experience.”<br />
Today’s debutantes are no longer<br />
presented at court, so Le Bal in Paris<br />
provides young society women with<br />
the perfect occasion to wear couture<br />
gowns and mingle with friends. Ella<br />
will be wearing Bucherer jewellery<br />
and a gown by Ralph & Russo<br />
Couture, the fashion house that also<br />
dressed Angelina Jolie when she<br />
collected her honorary damehood<br />
from the Queen.<br />
The debs are escorted at the<br />
event by a young gentleman<br />
“cavalier”. “My cavalier is Prince<br />
Henri of Bourbon-Parma, who Papa<br />
says is my second cousin, so I am<br />
looking forward to meeting him for<br />
the first time,” says Ella as she tries<br />
on a succession of elegant ballgowns<br />
in their Georgian country home.<br />
Her sisters, Alexandra, known as<br />
Alix, and Louise – aka Luli –<br />
exclaim as they witness her transformation<br />
from a country<br />
teenager in jeans and T-shirt to<br />
<br />
(RIGHT) PENNY’S GOWN: ULRICH ENGLER. JEWELLERY: STELLA & DOT. ALIX’S GOWN: ART OF BEING BY ELIZABETH EMANUEL. NECKLACE: STORM WATCHES. CUFF: STELLA & DOT. ELLA’S GOWN: ULRICH ENGLER. NECKLACE: BULGARI.<br />
LULI’S DRESS: MONSOON. BRACELETS: SYDNEY EVAN
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