Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer

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The Earl Spencer
Born Charles Edward Maurice Spencer
(1964-05-20) 20 May 1964 (age 49)
Title Earl Spencer
Tenure 29 March 1992 – present
Known for Younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales
Nationality British
Residence Althorp, Northamptonshire
Predecessor John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer
Spouse(s) Victoria Lockwood (m. 1989–1997, divorced)
Caroline Freud
(m. 2001–2007, divorced)
Karen Gordon (m. 2011–present)
Issue Lady Kitty Spencer
Lady Eliza Spencer
Lady Amelia Spencer
Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp
The Hon. Edmund Spencer
Lady Lara Spencer
Lady Charlotte Spencer
Parents John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer
Frances Shand Kydd

Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, DL (born 20 May 1964), styled Viscount Althorp between 1975 and 1992, is a British peer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and maternal uncle of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry of Wales. He is an author, print journalist and broadcaster.

Contents

Education [edit]

He was educated at Eton College, and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read History. He specialised in modern history.[1][2][3]

Career [edit]

Spencer worked as an on-air correspondent with NBC News from 1986 to 1995, primarily for the network's signature morning program, Today, and NBC Nightly News. He wrote and presented the 12-part documentary series, "Great Houses of the World" (1994–1995) for NBC Super Channel. He also worked a reporter for Granada Television from 1991 to 1993. For the print media, Spencer has written several book reviews for The Guardian and The Independent on Sunday. He has also written feature stories for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and for American publications such as Vanity Fair, Verandah and Nest.

On the death of his father on 29 March 1992, Spencer, at the age of 27, succeeded as 9th Earl Spencer, 9th Viscount Althorp, 9th Viscount Spencer of Althorp, 9th Baron Spencer of Althorp and 4th Viscount Althorp. He also inherited Althorp, the family's ancestral seat in Northamptonshire. Since 2009, he has restored Althorp, re-roofing it and restoring its entire exterior for the first time since the 1780s. He has also helped establish Althorp Living History, a handmade, fine furniture line reproducing pieces from the collection at Althorp. The Spencer family's wealth derived from their profitable sheep farming in the Tudor era.[4][5]

On 31 August 1997, Diana died after a car crash in Paris and the Earl delivered the eulogy at her funeral service held at Westminster Abbey six days later. In his eulogy he rebuked both Britain's royal family and the press for their treatment of his sister.[6]

Diana was buried on the Earl's ancestral estate, Althorp, where he built a mausoleum and a museum to Diana's memory, displaying her wedding dress and other personal effects. The museum was thrown open to the paying public in 1998 with all profits going to Diana's Memorial Fund, also set up by the Earl.

At this stage, the Earl began writing a series of books dealing with the estate itself and with his family history, being:

  • Althorp: the Story of an English House (1998) London: Viking.
  • The Spencers: a Personal History of an English Family (2000).
  • Blenheim, Battle for Europe (2004). Paperback edition by Phoenix, 2005. ISBN 0-304-36704-4. This book was shortlisted for "History Book of the Year" at the 2005 National Book Awards.
  • Prince Rupert — The Last Cavalier (2007). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN 978-0-297-84610-9.

In 2003, the Earl founded the Althorp Literary Festival. Speakers at the annual event have included the authors Bill Bryson, Helen Fielding, Antonia Fraser and Boris Johnson.

In 2004, he presented two documentaries for the History Channel on Blenheim: Battle for Europe. He contributed a chapter to British Military Greats, published by Cassell in 2005. He also contributed two of the 100 chapters of The Art of War: great commanders of the modern world, published by Quercus in 2009.

On 1 November 2005, the Earl was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Northamptonshire. This is a reflection of his family's long association with the county in which the family seat, Althorp, lies. The Earl was President and is currently Patron of the Northamptonshire County Cricket Club.

The Earl has also interested himself in charitable and humanitarian causes. He has been a Patron of the Friends of Cynthia Spencer Hospice in Northampton, England, since 1989. He was a Patron of the Lifeline and Childline charities in Western Cape, South Africa from 1997 to 2000. He has served as a Trustee of Nelson Mandela Children's Fund since 1998. In July 2011 he became one of the Patrons of Northampton Hope Centre a local homeless charity in Northampton.

Personal life [edit]

On 16 September 1989, Spencer, then known by the courtesy title of Lord Althorp, married (Catherine) Victoria Lockwood (b. 1965), a model. The wedding was held at the Church of St Mary, Great Brington, and Darius Guppy was the best man. Two nieces, Emily McCorquodale and The Hon. Eleanor Fellowes, were bridesmaids. Two of his nephews, Prince Harry of Wales and The Hon. Alexander Fellowes (son of Lord and Lady Fellowes), were pages. Spencer and Lockwood, who had moved to Cape Town, South Africa, were divorced on 3 December 1997. Diana's death occurred while the divorce case was in progress; shortly after his divorce, the Earl moved back to the United Kingdom. Earl Spencer has four children by Victoria Lockwood, three daughters and one son:

On 15 December 2001, he married Caroline Freud (née Hutton), who worked in public relations before becoming a part-time teacher. Earl Spencer has two children by Caroline, from whom he separated in 2007[7] and since divorced:

  • The Hon. Edmund Charles Spencer, born 6 October 2003 ;
  • Lady Lara Caroline Spencer, born 16 March 2006.

On 18 June 2011 at Althorp House Charles Spencer married Canadian philanthropist Karen Gordon (née Villeneuve), the founder and chief executive of Whole Child International, a Los Angeles-based charity which works to improve the lot of orphaned, abandoned, or abused children.[7][8][9] They have one child together:[10]

  • Lady Charlotte Diana Spencer, born 30 July 2012.

Charles chose to name his fifth daughter after his late sister, Diana, Princess of Wales. The Earl was reported to have said, "We hadn't settled on a first name before the birth, but Charlotte is a name we both love, and it really suits her. We knew that as soon as we saw her. And though it's been 15 years since Diana died, I still miss her every day and I wanted her commemorated in the naming of our daughter."[11]

The Earl resides at his ancestral seat, Althorp House.

Lord Spencer attended the wedding of his nephew and niece-by-marriage, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. Neither Prince Harry, nor the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended Charles' third wedding.

Titles from birth [edit]

Ancestry [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.althorp.com/literary_author_detail.php?id=16
  2. ^ http://www.althorp.com/estate_family_history.php
  3. ^ http://londonspeakerbureau.co.uk/speakers/earl_spencer
  4. ^ The Tarnished Crown: Crisis in the House of Windsor, by Anthony Holden, London, Viking Publishers 1993.
  5. ^ "Almost alone among the great families who rose to affluence in the sixteenth century the Spencers owed their wealth not to the favour of a monarch or to the acquisition of monastery lands but to their own skill as farmers and businessmen."--Georgina Battiscombe in The Spencers of Althorp, 1984
  6. ^ [1] BBC News
  7. ^ a b Earl Spencer marries for a third time
  8. ^ MSN News[specify]
  9. ^ [2] The Washington Post
  10. ^ Nicholl, Kate. "Spencer's joy as Althorp sees first birth since 1793". Retrieved 5 August 2012. 
  11. ^ "Earl Spencer names baby daughter after Diana, Princess of Wales". The Telegraph (UK). 6 August 2012. 

Sources [edit]

External links [edit]

Court offices
Preceded by
Edward Gordon-Lennox		 Page of Honour
1977–1979		 Succeeded by
Tyrone Plunket
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Edward Spencer		 Earl Spencer
1992—present		 Incumbent
Heir:
Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Radnor		 United Kingdom Order of Precedence
(gentlemen)		 Succeeded by
The Rt. Hon. The Earl Bathurst
 
 
 
 
...of Ireland (pre-1801)
 
*Current substantive earls, listed by precedence, from highest to lowest ** Errol ranks in Scotland as Lord High Constable; Peel ranks as Lord Chamberlain ***Wessex ranks among the Royal family
Authority control
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