Princess Diana's stepmother Raine Spencer dies, aged 87
Countess Spencer was married to Diana's father Earl Spencer for 16 years and later gave evidence at the inquest into her death.
Saturday 22 October 2016 06:27, UK
Raine Spencer, the stepmother of Princess Diana, has died after a short illness, her family have said.
Countess Spencer, who was married to Diana's father Earl Spencer from 1976 until his death in 1992, died at her London home on Friday.
The 87-year-old's death was confirmed by her son William Legge, the Earl of Dartmouth and a UKIP MEP.
Countess Spencer was born Raine McCorquodale, the only child of Army officer Alexander McCorquodale and romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.
In 1948, she married the Hon Gerald Humphry Legge, who later became the 9th Earl of Dartmouth, with whom she had four children.
She had a long career in local government with Westminster and Greater London councils and later divorced her husband shortly before marrying Earl Spencer.
It has been reported that Diana, who was 15 at the time of the marriage, and her brother Charles, did not always get on with their stepmother.
A year after Earl Spencer's death, Raine Spencer married for a third time, to Count Jean-Francois Pineton de Chambrun.
The marriage lasted two years and afterwards she reverted to her previous name, Countess Spencer.
In 2007, she gave evidence to the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, saying her stepdaughter's life had been "very draining".
Reuters reported her saying that Diana had been "madly in love" with Dodi Fayed at the time of her death in 1997.
She had "never been so happy for years" and it was highly likely that the pair would have married, Countess Spencer told the hearing in London.
The news agency said the Countess and Diana reconciled their relationship in the last years of the Princess's life, having previously had a frosty relationship.