Charles Peregrine Courtenay, 19th Earl of Devon (born 14 August 1975), styled as Lord Courtenay from 1998 until 2015, is an English hereditary peer and barrister. He was a crossbench member of the House of Lords, having been elected at a by-election in 2018.
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Education and career
Courtenay was educated at Eton College. After obtaining an MA degree from St John's College, Cambridge, in 1997, he followed his legal studies at the Inns of Court School of Law. Courtenay was admitted to the bar at Inner Temple in 1999, and to the California State Bar in 2004.
Devon practised law with the firm of Latham & Watkins from 2005 to 2018, starting at their Los Angeles, California office. In January 2014, he permanently relocated his family to London and transferred to his firm's London office. In January 2019, he joined the Exeter firm Michelmores as a partner, where he is known as Charles Courtenay. He and his family now reside at the family's ancestral home of Powderham Castle in Devon, England. He owns a 3,500-acre estate.
In 2025, Devon called for the House of Lords to abolish the use of the word "Lord" to describe its peers, calling the chamber itself "gendered" and "discriminatory." He lost his position with the abolition of hereditary membership.
In 2026, Devon criticized primogeniture and the order of succession for hereditary peerages, saying that they are "unfair" and "inappropriate", and advocated for equal opportunities for both male and female descendants of peers.
Personal life
Courtenay married the American actress A. J. Langer in a civil ceremony in 2004. A formal wedding later took place on 30 April 2005, in Los Angeles. With his father's death in 2015, the then Lord Courtenay succeeded to his father's peerage and estate, becoming the 19th Earl of Devon.
Devon and Langer have two children. Devon announced that he had filed for divorce in November 2023. In February 2024, Devon filed to dismiss the couple's divorce application “without prejudice” and remains separated from Langer. They later divorced.
In March 2026 Devon announced his engagement to Jemima Hannon, the granddaughter of Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway.