Earl Spencer, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, is known for sharing touching tidbits from his personal history with his social media followers — and the photograph he shared yesterday was particularly poignant. Charles delighted his 134,000 Instagram fans by sharing a newspaper cutting showing his mother, the Hon. Frances Shand Kydd, and her sister, Mary, as children.
The Prince and Princess of Wales cheered on England vs. Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff
Sharing the context of the image, Earl Spencer wrote: ‘Grainy newspaper photograph of my Aunt Mary (left) and my mother, electioneering for my maternal grandfather Maurice Fermoy in the 1940s: an Irish-American who happened to be born in London, and who studied (lightly, it has to be said - I’ve seen his reports) at Harvard. My grandfather served in the US infantry in World War 1, and in the @royalairforceuk during World War 2. He was Member of Parliament for North Norfolk, and also Mayor of King’s Lynn. Quite a formal double portrait - but lovely, for all that.’
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Living at his family seat, Althorp House, provides Earl Spencer with plenty of opportunity for delving into his ancestral past. The author and his wife, Countess Spencer, have even launched a website, spencer1508.com, chronicling their rich family history, and Charles often delights his social media followers by sharing glimpses into the Althorp archives. Earl Spencer has also recently launched a podcast series, the second episode of which was released today.
The Princess of Wales was elegant in a teal suit for the meeting involving businesses and the Norwegian ambassador
The Hon. Frances Ruth Roche was born at Park House, a property on the Sandringham royal estate, on 20 January 1936, the same day as the death of King George V. She was closely connected to the Royal Family as the daughter of Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, who was a friend of King George VI, and Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, a confidante and lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother (then Queen Elizabeth). Frances was also part of a line of glamorous women that would be continued by her own daughters and granddaughters, as her paternal grandmother was the prominent American heiress and socialite, Frances Ellen Work.
On 1 June 1954, Frances married John Spencer (then Viscount Althorp). A union of two eminent dynasties, it was quite the high society affair, held at Westminster Abbey with the Queen and other Royal Family members in attendance. Aged just 18, Frances was then the youngest woman to get married in the famous Abbey for some five decades. The couple went on to have five children together; Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Jane, Baroness Fellowes, the Hon. John Spencer (who sadly died just hours after his birth), Princess Diana and Charles, now Earl Spencer. Among Frances’s many grandchildren are the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, and Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza Spencer.
