FOR years he has been one of Hampshire's most eligible bachelors.

The Hon Ralph Montagu, elder son of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, owns a huge estate that includes his home village and the neighbouring community of Buckler's Hard.

His sister Mary was married at Buckler's Hard in 1997 in a ceremony that left villagers wondering when he too would tie the knot.

Now Mr Montagu, 44, has announced his engagement to Ailsa Camm.

Miss Camm, 43, is the daughter of an English father and a Chinese mother.

She was born and brought up in the Netherlands, where her father worked as a senior scientist for NATO.

Educated at British and American schools in the Netherlands, she read French at Pembroke College, Oxford, and now works as a freelance translator.

Miss Camm is also archives officer for the London-based First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), the only all-woman military unit in the UK.

She and Mr Montagu met at a reception hosted by Lord Montagu to commemorate the activities of the Special Operations Executive, which ran a training school at Beaulieu.

The FANY provided many of the women who served with the SOE as secret agents in Occupied Europe.

Miss Camm and Mr Montagu have known each other for about three years and aim to marry in the spring.

Lord Montagu, 78, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled; the whole family are. Ailsa is a delightful person and very, very pretty."

Mr Montagu was educated at Millfield School, Somerset, and later took a degree in graphic design at the Central School of Arts and Design in London.

He was still in his mid-20s when he inherited most of the Beaulieu Estate from a trust set up by his father.

Writing in his recently published autobiography, Wheels Within Wheels, Lord Montagu says: "Some years ago I began to pass ownership to Ralph to ease the impact of death duties.

"This was done in regular tranches to ensure a painless transition, especially I if died early.

"By the beginning of the 1990s Ralph was beginning to assume more and more responsibility for day-to-day management and now it has become customary at the annual dinner for his speech to follow mine."

Mr Montagu will eventually inherit the jewel in the crown, the National Motor Museum.

As well as his duties at Beaulieu he also has a part-time job at the BBC, where he is head of heritage for Radio Times.

He and his fiance share an interest in steam trains and have jointly contributed to two books about great railway journeys of the world.

The couple have yet to choose a venue for their wedding.