It’s a warm summer’s day when I arrive at a gated house in the leafy Cape Town suburb of Claremont, to be greeted by Amelia and Eliza Spencer.
The 28-year-old twins are the daughters of Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, and the model Victoria Lockwood, his former wife and the mother of his four eldest children. The next generation of this great English dynasty, Amelia and Eliza made their debut in the public eye in 2011 at the wedding of their first cousin Prince William. Then in 2018, Amelia attended Prince Harry’s wedding with her mother, sister Kitty and brother Louis, Viscount Althorp, who towered over them in his morning coat as they walked arm-in-arm to the chapel at Windsor Castle.
Other than their appearances at the weddings of their royal cousins and Amelia’s announcement of her engagement to her boyfriend of 12 years, Greg Mallet, the twins have shied away from public life. But they are warmly welcoming when we meet at Eliza’s house, which she shares with her boyfriend, Channing Millerd, a 29-year-old tech executive. The three of us sink into comfortable sofas in the sitting room, which overlooks a terrace and garden, the scene of many a weekend ‘braai’, as South Africans call a barbecue.
Although Amelia and Eliza are strikingly similar in some ways – their height and petite frames, their flawless sun-kissed complexions, their strong South African accents – they are not identical. Softly spoken Eliza – the elder of the two by one minute – seems a younger version of her mother, Victoria, wearing a flowing maxi-dress and sandals, her honeyed hair lightened by the sun, while Amelia is glamorous in a fitted blue shirt, black skinny jeans and black pumps, with platinum-blonde hair and huge, kohl-rimmed blue eyes. Eliza wanders to the kitchen to get us mint tea and chocolate nougat. ‘You just have to try one of these, they’re so good,’ she says, smiling, as she comes back with the tray of sweets.
How was it for them, growing up as twins? ‘We’ve always been very close,’ says Amelia. ‘We’re very similar. We love doing the same things and share the same friends. You’re guaranteed to have a best friend there always – you can’t really compare it to anything else.’ Eliza recalls how at school (they both went to Reddam House, a mixed private school that was close to their house in Constantia) they were always put in the same sports teams: for swimming, netball, tennis, riding and occasionally water polo.
It’s their first ever interview together and they are markedly shy, quite the contrast to their confident elder sister, Kitty. The pandemic has kept her apart from the twins for a year, though they remain close. ‘Kitty is always so supportive of us,’ Eliza says. ‘We’re in a WhatsApp group together, just the girls, as well as a family one. She’s always on hand to give us advice and encouragement.’ With Kitty and Louis already based in the UK, the twins had hoped to permanently relocate to London last year. Amelia and Greg moved there in January 2020, and Eliza planned to join them later. Amelia intended to continue working as an events planner and Eliza was completing an online course in interior design. But then the pandemic struck, and Amelia and Greg flew back to Cape Town. ‘I had to make the decision where I was going to spend lockdown,’ Amelia explains, ‘and I wanted to be close to Eliza and my family.’ With luck, the move to London will happen this year.
The girls weren’t born in South Africa but the family moved there in 1995 to avoid the media attention that the Spencer name attracted. Their parents divorced in 1997, but the twins have fond memories of Althorp, the family seat, where they’d stay with their father during the school holidays. ‘It is a truly special and beautiful place,’ Eliza says. ‘Having spent the first three years of our lives at Althorp, exploring and discovering it as children, and being part of a long heritage of Spencers that have lived there, it has always felt like another home. And of course it conjures up memories of family Christmases as children, with our extended family all together.’
The Spencer family has lived in the glamorous sprawl of Althorp, in Northamptonshire, since 1508. It has a 115-foot picture gallery filled with Van Dycks and Lelys; extravagantly pillared Palladian stables; and Capability Brown-designed grounds. One of its more recent acquisitions was a bouncy castle, installed in the dining room by the earl’s third wife, Karen, Countess Spencer, for her daughter, Lady Charlotte Diana.
The earldom dates back to 1765, but the Spencers had been a notable family for years before that, having made their fortune as sheep farmers in the 15th century. By the reign of James I, the 1st Lord Spencer was said to be the richest man in England. His daughter Georgiana married the 5th Duke of Devonshire and was immortalised by Keira Knightley in the 2008 film The Duchess. The current Earl Spencer is a godson of the Queen, while Robert Fellowes, the twins’ uncle (who married their aunt Lady Jane Spencer) was private secretary to the Queen from 1990 to 1999.
The twins have spent less time at Althorp lately, for obvious reasons, but Louis, who’s at drama school in west London and will one day inherit the estate, ‘adores it’, says Amelia. ‘He spent lock- down there and has embraced all the English traditions.’ Poignantly, many of the staff at Althorp worked there when the girls’ aunt Lady Diana Spencer was a child. They told stories about her to the twins, who were five when Diana died in 1997.
‘We always just knew her as our aunt,’ Eliza explains. ‘Growing up in South Africa, I really had very little idea of how significant she was in the world until I was much older.’ But Diana ‘did come and visit us in South Africa on a few occasions. She stayed with us, just before she passed away, at my father’s house here in Cape Town. We were very fortunate to have spent that time with her.’
Earl Spencer was at home in Cape Town when Diana died. Outside his front gates, he told the waiting scrum of reporters that he had ‘always believed that the press would kill her in the end’. The then 33-year-old earl flew to Britain to attend the funeral (without his daughters, who were too young), where he gave an extraordinary tribute, while denouncing the tabloids for their treatment of his sister. As his oratory drew to a close, the faint sound of clapping could be heard outside the walls of Westminster Abbey, until it made its way to the 2,000 guests in the abbey itself.
The earl later revealed that when he told the twins that their aunt had died, Eliza said: ‘But not in real life, Daddy.’ She thought it was such a terrible story that it must be a fairytale. Eliza remem- bers her aunt as ‘incredibly warm, maternal and loving. She always made an effort to connect with us as children and had a talent for reading children’s hearts.’ On one occasion, the twins went with Diana to Noordhoek, a beach known for its freezing water, and were approached by a photographer. ‘Obviously it could have been quite terrifying for us, being so young and not understanding what was happening. But she turned it into a game of who could get back to the car first. It was amazing how she protected us in a way that made us feel safe and not frightened. We had no idea what she was doing at the time. As a child, I realised the enormity of the loss for my father and family. It was only later that I came to understand the significance of the loss of her as a figure in the world.’ Both girls attended the 2007 Concert for Diana at Wembley and the 10-year memorial service at the Guards’ Chapel. ‘It was a way to celebrate and remember her,’ says Amelia.
They will not be drawn on details about Princes William and Harry, out of respect for their privacy, but they are very close to their cousins, the Fellowes and the McCorquodale children. Lady Amelia Spencer says that Celia McCorquodale came to stay with them in Cape Town for 10 days in 2019 (the twins adore Celia’s husband, George Woodhouse, whom she married in 2018). In December last year, the Spencer siblings reunited for the first time in 10 months, with Louis and Kitty flying to Cape Town to celebrate Christmas with the rest of the family, including their adored 17-year-old brother Samuel, from their mother’s second marriage. ‘He’ll always be our baby brother, even though he is 17,’ says Amelia. Who did the cooking? ‘Well, neither of us.’ The twins laugh. Both sisters’ partners, though, are accomplished cooks – Eliza admits Channing makes her dinner every night. But the twins are resolutely down to earth and insist they’re happiest with their hands in the sink. ‘I actually love cleaning and will do all of the dishes,’ Eliza adds.
The Spencer twins had a blissfully happy childhood, growing up in Constantia, one of Cape Town’s oldest and most exclusive suburbs, with their mother. ‘We used to go away to Cederberg on camping trips, where there would be no electricity,’ Eliza says. ‘We were always in nature, on farms – we wouldn’t have been able to do that if we hadn’t been here.’ Amelia’s fiancé, Greg, a fitness trainer, encourages her to stay healthy, ‘although he never puts pressure on me’, she clarifies, and they spend a lot of time hiking – Lion’s Head near Table Mountain and Silvermine nature reserve are favourites. ‘At the end, we walk down and swim in a dam. We’re always outdoors together – it’s a great motivator.’
Restaurants in Cape Town have been closed for months due to the pandemic, but the twins are looking forward to returning to their usual spots: Café Caprice on Camps Bay and the Grand Africa Cafe, a huge beachfront restaurant with great cocktails. ‘It’s a sort of Nikki Beach vibe,’ Amelia says. ‘We’ve spent New Year’s Eve there a couple of times.’ They tell me they also love the Italian restaurants Villa 47 and Il Leone Mastrantonio. ‘Do you eat sushi?’ Amelia asks. ‘Because if you do, you have to try Willoughby. It would definitely be my last meal on earth.’ At weekends, they head down the coast to Hermanus, where Channing’s parents live. ‘We go for beautiful cliff-path walks and whale-watching,’ Eliza says. ‘We love spending time there.’
The conversation turns to mental health. The girls are warm and confiding, but they’ve not had the easiest ride – Eliza especially. As well as Diana dying when they were five, their mother, Victoria, had her own battles years ago with drink and drug addiction. ‘It was never something that we felt afraid to talk about when we had our own struggles,’ Eliza says. ‘We were a very open family.’ Amelia nods. ‘We have come a long way in terms of the conversations, and I hope there will come a time when the stigma is completely removed and that people will be able to ask for help and not feel judged for having mental health issues or struggling emotionally.’
Eliza experienced her own tragedy 13 years ago. In 2008, her 17-year-old boyfriend, Chris Elliott, died in a road accident when a car in which he was a passenger crashed into a tree. He was a promising bodyboarder, in his final year of school. ‘I went through a very difficult time and had an incredible [support] team, who I am so grateful to,’ Eliza admits, visibly emotional. ‘They helped me get through it, along with support from my family and friends. I still see my therapist.’ She has a small star-shaped tattoo on the inside of her wrist, which she got when Chris died. Channing, she adds, has been ‘incredible. I want to say how fortunate I was to have found someone like him. He has held me through the sad times and anniversaries. He doesn’t try to change my past.’ Amelia tells me her sister’s resilience has been remarkable. ‘I can’t tell you what an inspiration she is to me,’ she says. ‘She is the strongest person I know.’
It’s not just mental health that the girls are championing. Other causes they support include animal welfare and children’s charities. Last year, Eliza visited Malawi with Victoria for 10 days to work with United Purpose, a charity set up to support refugees from the Mozambican Civil War. They are also committed to helping the community around them. South Africa is the most industrialised country in Africa but also one of its most unequal, and for many, the past year has been crushing. More than 20,000 lives have been lost, and many small businesses have folded.
When the country locked down, a local friend of the twins had the misfortune of his house burning down due to an electrical fault. ‘I contacted as many people as we could and we gathered together as much as we could: a new fridge and essentials to help him get back on his feet,’ says Eliza. South Africa’s lockdown, like that of many countries, was severe and lasted four months. ‘If you left the house, it was purely to buy necessities,’ Lady Amelia Spencer recalls. ‘The police were patrolling the roads and checking receipts to make sure you hadn’t been to the shops – alcohol and cigarette sales were banned. It was a good thing in that within communities, there was less mixing and socialising – I feel like that saved a lot of people.’
The sisters didn’t see each other for weeks during the most intense part of the lockdown, but they seem aware of how lucky they are. ‘We are very privileged, compared to what other people have gone through,’ Eliza says. The whole pandemic, she adds, ‘has been a very reflective time and reminds you of what is important: friends, family, health and people’s wellbeing’.
It’s no surprise then that the girls are now looking forward to the next chapter of their lives in London. Eliza hopes to set herself up as an interior designer, and Amelia has her events planning to carry on with. And having organised countless weddings in South Africa, she now has her own to plan. Eliza was the first person on their side of the family whom Greg told about wanting to propose. ‘I was so touched,’ she says. ‘He called me 10 days before. I knew that they were going for a weekend to Clouds Estate [a boutique hotel near Stellenbosch], so I had to take her away to get her nails done and get ready, pretending it was just a birthday weekend.’
Their father has suggested Althorp to Amelia as their wedding venue, but she’s undecided. ‘It’s our family home, it’s beautiful. We would be very lucky to get married there, but Cape Town is where we grew up and there is a possibility that we might do it here, too. Greg and I have always loved the idea of an outdoor wedding. I know exactly what I want, having planned so many, and I’m sure my mum and sisters will get very involved. I’m so lucky to be marying into such an amazing family.’ And with a huge extended family of their own, the twins will be able to spend more time with their siblings and cousins once they move to London.
Both girls say they are happiest in jeans and T-shirts or in gym kit, so it’s no surprise that they seem slightly out of their comfort zone when Tatler arrives to photograph them. But they’re following in their mother’s footsteps: Victoria’s first editorial shoot was for Tatler in 1984. An initially nervous Amelia appears first in an Oscar de la Renta gown and poses on the sweeping driveway among the towering palm trees. She gestures to her twin for support: ‘Lize, come over and stand near me.’ As the day draws on, I watch them grow in confidence, elegant in their Grecian-style dresses, posing against the columns outside the imposing Prince of Wales Gate, stopping the traffic on the nearby road. I sense that the future is bright for the Spencer twins. With a move to London, a modelling contract with Storm secured and a wedding to plan, it’s just the English weather they will have to overcome.
This feature originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Tatler.
