Jump to content

Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 202.64.92.10 (talk) at 09:17, 25 August 2014 (→Early life and education). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Right Honourable
The Earl Spencer
DL
Earl Spencer
Tenure29 March 1992–present
PredecessorJohn Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer
Known forYounger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales
BornCharles Edward Maurice Spencer
(1964-05-20) 20 May 1964 (age 60)
NationalityBritish
ResidenceAlthorp, Northamptonshire
Spouse(s)Victoria Lockwood (m. 1989–1997, divorced)
Caroline Freud
(m. 2001–2007, divorced)
Karen Gordon (m. 2011–present)
IssueLady Kitty Spencer
Lady Eliza Spencer
Lady Amelia Spencer
Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp
The Hon. Edmund Spencer
Lady Lara Spencer
Lady Charlotte Spencer
ParentsJohn Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer
The Honourable 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 and brother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Lord Spencer is the maternal uncle of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, and is also the great-uncle of Prince George of Cambridge. Spencer is an author, print journalist and broadcaster.

Early life and education

He was born as Charles Edward Maurice Spencer on 20 May 1964.[1] His parents were the Viscount and Viscountess Althorp, John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd.[1] He had three sisters, Sarah, Jane, and Diana, who later became the Princess of Wales. He also had an elder brother John, who died within hours of his birth. His godmother is Queen Elizabeth II.[1]

He was educated at Eton College, and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read History. He specialised in modern history.[2][3] At Oxford he was a member of the Bullingdon Club.

Career

Spencer worked as an on-air correspondent with NBC News from 1986 to 1995, primarily for the network's signature morning programme, 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 as a reporter for Granada Television from 1991 to 1993. On the print-media side, Spencer has written several book reviews for The Guardian and The Independent on Sunday as well as feature stories for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and 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.[4] 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.[5][6]

On 31 August 1997, Diana died after a car crash in Paris and Spencer 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.[7]

Diana was buried on Spencer'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 Spencer.

At this stage, Spencer 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, Spencer 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, Spencer 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.[8]

Spencer 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

On 16 September 1989, Spencer, then known by the courtesy title of Lord Althorp, married (Catherine) Victoria Lockwood (born 1965). 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 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, Spencer moved back to the United Kingdom. The Earl has four children by Victoria Lockwood, three daughters and one son:[9]

On 15 December 2001, he married Caroline Freud (née Hutton). The Earl has two children by Caroline, from whom he separated in 2007 and since divorced:[10]

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

On 18 June 2011 at Althorp House, Spencer married Karen Gordon (née Villeneuve), a Canadian philanthropist and the founder and chief executive of Whole Child International, a charity based in Los Angeles which works to improve the lot of orphaned, abandoned, or abused children.[10] They have one child together:[11]

  • Lady Charlotte Diana Spencer (born 30 July 2012)[12]

Spencer chose to name his fifth daughter after his late sister, Diana, Princess of Wales.[12] Spencer 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."[13]

The Earl resides at his ancestral seat, Althorp House.

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 the Earl's third wedding.[10]

Titles from birth

  • The Honourable Charles Edward Maurice Spencer (20 May 1964 – 9 June 1975)
  • Viscount Althorp (9 June 1975 – 29 March 1992)
  • The Right Honourable The Earl Spencer (29 March 1992–present)

Ancestry

Family of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer
16. Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer
8. Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer
17. Adelaide Horatia Seymour
4. Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer
18. Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke
9. Margaret Baring
19. Louisa Emily Bulteel
2. John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer
20. James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn
10. James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn
21. Maria Anna Curzon-Howe
5. Cynthia Hamilton
22. Charles Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan
11. Rosalind Cecilia Bingham
23. Cecilia Catherine Gordon-Lennox
1. Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer
24. Edmond Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy
12. James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy
25. Elizabeth Caroline Boothby
6. Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy
26. Franklin H. Work
13. Frances Ellen Work
27. Ellen Wood
3. Frances Roche
28. Alexander Ogston Gill
14. William Smith Gill
29. Barbara Smith Marr
7. Ruth Sylvia Gill
30. David Littlejohn
15. Ruth Littlejohn
31. Jane Crombie

Arms

Coat of arms of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer
Coronet
A Coronet of an Earl
Crest
Out of a Ducal Coronet Or a Griffin's Head Azure gorged with a Bar Gemelle Gules between two Wings expanded of the second
Escutcheon
Quarterly Argent and Gules in the 2nd and 3rd quarters a Fret Or over all on a Bend Sable three Escallops of the first
Supporters
Dexter: A Griffin per fess Ermine and Erminois gorged with a Collar Sable the edges flory-counterflory and chained of the last and on the Collar three Escallops Argent; Sinister: A Wyvern Erect on his tail Ermine similarly collared and chained
Motto
Dieu Defend Le Droit (God defend the right)

References

  1. ^ a b c "Biography for Earl Charles Spencer". IMDb. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Ken Dodd at Althorp's Literary Festival". Althorp. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Speaker Profile". The London Speaker Bureau. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  4. ^ http://www.spencerofalthorp.com/heritage/unique-family/charles-spencer-ninth-earl-spencer
  5. ^ The Tarnished Crown: Crisis in the House of Windsor, by Anthony Holden, London, Viking Publishers 1993.
  6. ^ "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
  7. ^ "Prince William's uncle Earl Spencer set to wed". BBC. 15 February 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  8. ^ http://www.northantscricket.com/club/board_of_directors
  9. ^ Calvi, Nuala (25 April 2011). "Royal wedding clash of the titles! Spencers vs. Parker Bowles". CNN. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  10. ^ a b c Roya Nikkhah; Ben Leach (18 June 2011). "Earl Spencer marries for a third time". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  11. ^ Nicholl, Kate (5 August 2012). "Spencer's joy as Althorp sees first birth since 1793". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  12. ^ a b "Princess Diana's Brother Names His Daughter in Her Memory". US Weekly. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  13. ^ "Earl Spencer names baby daughter after Diana, Princess of Wales". The Telegraph. UK. 6 August 2012.

Sources

Court offices
Preceded by Page of Honour
1977–1979 		Succeeded by
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Earl Spencer
1992—present 		Incumbent
Heir:
Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by United Kingdom Order of Precedence
(gentlemen) 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Charles_Spencer,_9th_Earl_Spencer&oldid=622718240"