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'BAYWATCH BABE' TO MARRY DEVON LORD


09:00 - 15 April 2004

The heir to a Devon stately home is set to marry American actress Allison Joy Langer. Sarah Pitt reports on the society match of the year

The future Earl of Devon has delighted his family by announcing his engagement to an American actress and Baywatch star he met in Las Vegas.



Charles Peregrine Courtenay, known as Charlie, became engaged to Allison Joy Langer, his girlfriend of nearly two years, on April 4.

Charlie, who has the courtesy title of Lord Courtenay, and who has three older sisters, is currently at home in Devon at magnificent Powderham Castle, near Exeter, which he will one day inherit.

There he is proudly introducing his bride-to-be, known as AJ, to his parents, the Earl and Countess of Devon, and his family.

Lord Courtenay, who is 28, and his bride-to-be, who is 29, hope to be married next year in Los Angeles where they plan to make their home for the next few years.

Lord Courtenay recently passed his bar exams in the United States where he settled after meeting Miss Langer in Las Vegas, Nevada, in June 2002 when she was on holiday and he was playing rugby in an international contest.

The couple are intending to return to Powderham in a few years to take over the reins running the family estate, which is developing a name for itself as a major concert venue as well as a tourist attraction.

Miss Langer, whose first break came in 1991 when she starred as one of the swimsuit-clad lovelies in Baywatch, is a familiar face on television screens in the US.

She came to prominence in 1994 when she took the role of Rayanne Graff in the award-winning TV series My So-called Life, which has been a hit beyond America.

Her love of surfing is genuine - and not just for the Baywatch cameras - particularly after she discovered that it enabled her to overcome fibromyalgia, a medical condition she was diagnosed with in 1995, a syndrome that affects the soft tissue of the body.

Surfing is something which both she and Lord Courtenay enjoy - they became engaged while on their surfboards off Los Angeles.

"It is fantastic," said a delighted Lord Courtenay yesterday from Powderham. "It is the best news ever."

When the couple met in Las Vegas, there was an instant attraction. At that time, Lord Courtenay was working as a barrister in London.

"She is a very beautiful girl and we got on immediately," he said. "Then for a year it was a long-distance relationship. I was still over here."

He gave up his London life and headed off to California to be with Miss Langer, swotting for his US bar exams - which he passed in February this year - so that he could practise as a barrister in the States.

"We got engaged sitting on surfboards off the coast of Los Angeles," said Lord Courtenay.

The significance of the date they happened upon - the fourth day of the fourth month, 2004 - only occurred to them afterwards, but they are taking it as a lucky sign.

"It was complete chance," he said. "We didn't realise it until afterwards. We will be getting married in Los Angeles, probably next year."

And while the wedding won't be a Devon one, the diamond engagement ring that Lord Courtenay has presented to his bride-to-be certainly is.

"She has a family heirloom," he said. "It was given by my great-grandfather to my great-grandmother in 1906."

He said he had enjoyed basking in the family congratulations over Easter back in Devon.

"They are very pleased," he said. "It has been a lovely week here.

"Everyone has been pleased and all the family are down."

Miss Langer, whose first break came in 1991 when she starred as one of the swimsuit-clad lovelies in Baywatch, is a familiar face on television screens in the US.

candygirl wrote:She guest starred on Baywatch a few times, but I'm almost certain she never actually wore a swimsuit on the show. I remember the jewel smuggling doll episode, and I don't remember seeing her in a swimsuit. Then again, I'm old and I don't remember things very well so I could be wrong! The writer kind of made it sound like she was one of the Baywatch babes jogging down the beach in slow motion alongside Pamela Anderson, which we know isn't true!

candygirl wrote: Are those from the first time she was on Baywatch? I have never seen those episodes, only the multiple name character episode where she had the doll (which seems to be on every time I catch the reruns - I know I have seen that episode three or four times).