Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer

The Earl Spencer
Born	Charles Edward Maurice Spencer 20 May 1964 (1964-05-20) (age 47)
Title	Earl Spencer
Tenure	29 March 1992 - present (&1000000000000001900000019 years, &10000000000000230000000230 days)
Residence	Althorp, Northamptonshire
Predecessor	8th Earl Spencer
Spouse(s)	Victoria Lockwood (m. 1989-1997, divorced) Caroline Freud (m. 2002-2007, divorced) Karen Gordon (m. 2011-present)
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 and brother of Diana, Princess of Wales. He is an author, print journalist and broadcaster.

Career

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.^[1][2]

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.^[3]

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 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

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 England. Earl Spencer has four children by Victoria Lockwood, three daughters and one son:

• Lady Kitty Eleanor Spencer, born 28 December 1990 (1990-12-28) (age 20);
• Lady Eliza Victoria Spencer, born 10 July 1992 (1992-07-10) (age 19);
• Lady (Katya) Amelia Spencer, born 10 July 1992 (1992-07-10) (age 19);
• Louis Frederick John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, born 14 March 1994 (1994-03-14) (age 17), and heir to the earldom.

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^[4] and since divorced:

• The Hon. Edmund Charles Spencer, born 6 October 2003 (2003-10-06) (age 8);
• Lady Lara Caroline Spencer, born 16 March 2006 (2006-03-16) (age 5).

Spencer had a broken engagement in 2010.^[4]

Charles Spencer married Canadian philanthropist Karen Gordon, 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.^[5] on 18 June 2011 at Althorp House.^[6][4]

The Earl resides at his ancestral seat, Althorp House.

Lord Spencer attended the wedding of his nephew and niece-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011.

Titles from birth

• The Honourable Charles 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

References

1. ^ The Tarnished Crown: Crisis in the House of Windsor, by Anthony Holden, London, Viking Publishers 1993.
2. ^ "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
3. ^ [1] BBC News
4. ^ ^{a b c} Earl Spencer marries for a third time
5. ^ MSN News^[specify]
6. ^ [2] The Washington Post

Sources

• Diana: Her True Story, written by Andrew Morton
• Two works by Lady Colin Campbell: Diana in Private and Royal Marriages
• The Peerage
• The obituaries for the 8th Earl Spencer, Diana, Princess of Wales and Frances Shand Kydd in The Times.

External links

• Complete text and audio and video of Lord Spencer's eulogy for his older sister Princess Diana AmericanRhetoric.com
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer

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