On what would have been her 88th birthday in January, Charles Spencer paid a loving tribute to his mother.
The historian, 60, remembered Frances Shand Kydd with ‘love and gratitude’ as he took to social media to post a selection of newspaper cuttings – including one announcing the birth of his sister Princess Diana.
But the life of Frances, who died 20 years ago today, was a particularly tragic and complicated one – not least the relationship with her daughter.
She had a troubled marriage with Diana’s father – the future eighth Earl Spencer – which ended in divorce after she fell for wallpaper tycoon Peter Shand Kydd.
Her four children were left in the care of their father after a fierce custody battle when Diana was seven.
The bitter split led to a complex relationship with her youngest daughter. As her brother previously recalled: ‘Diana used to wait on the doorstep for her, but she never came.’
His mother was not, he said, ‘cut out for maternity’.
When Frances said in an interview months before her daughter’s death that it was ‘absolutely wonderful’ she had been stripped of her HRH title after her divorce from the then Prince Charles, Diana never spoke to her again.
Frances spent the last of her days living alone in Seil – one of Scotland’s Slate Islands – where she remained after her second husband left her for a younger woman.
Frances was born into the regal world of the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk on January 20, 1936.
Socialising in royal circles from a young age – her father, Maurice Roche, was friends with King George VI and her mother, Lady Ruth Remoy, was a lady in waiting to the Queen Mother.
In 1954, when she was just 18, she married 30-year-old Edward ‘Johnnie’ Spencer.
The couple had their first two daughters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, in 1955 and 1957 respectively.
Their desperate wish for a son was granted in 1960, but little baby John died just hours after being born.
By the time Diana arrived the following year, Frances’s marriage had become strained after her several pregnancies had failed to produce a male heir to Althorp.
The birth of Charles in 1964 failed to cure Frances’s relationship ills and in 1967 she fell for married wallpaper tycoon Peter Shand Kydd.
In 1969, her divorce was finalised and Frances went on to marry her lover. Having earned the nickname ‘the bolter’, a blazing custody battle commenced with John.
In the early days of the separation, Diana and her brother lived with their mother, whilst Sarah and Jane attended boarding school.
They eventually all went back to live with their father after Frances’s custody attempts proved unsuccessful and she moved to Scotland with her new husband.
Earl Spencer previously opened up about the impact his mother’s absence had on his and Diana’s childhood – including how his sister would wait for her return.
He recalled: ‘While she was packing her stuff to leave, she promised Diana she’d come back to see her. Diana used to wait on the doorstep for her, but she never came.’
He added: ‘Our father was a quiet, constant source of love, but our mother wasn’t cut out for maternity… she couldn’t do it. She was in love with someone else, infatuated really.’
Earl Spencer still felt able to unveil a portrait of his mother to mark what would have been her 85th birthday in 2021.