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Princess Diana‘s parents were John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd. The two married in 1954 and divorced 15 years later. Spencer and Shand Kydd had five children together, three girls and two boys — one of whom died shortly after birth — before going their separate ways.
Edward John Spencer was born on Jan. 24, 1924, to parents Albert Spencer and Lady Cynthia Hamilton. He attended Eton College before he enrolled at the Sandhurst Military Academy. Frances Shand Kydd (née Frances Ruth Burke Roche) was born on Jan. 20, 1936, to parents Maurice Roche and Ruth Sylvia Gill.
Keep reading to learn more about Princess Diana’s parents, John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd.
Queen Elizabeth II was a guest at their wedding
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Shand Kydd married Spencer when she was just 18 years old. The two exchanged vows at Westminster Abbey, and Queen Elizabeth II was in attendance, per the BBC. The wedding was considered “the social event of 1954,” according to the report.
They had 5 children together, including Princess Diana
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One year after they wed, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia. Two years later, Cynthia Janejoined the family. Their third child was a son named John, who was born in 1960. According to The Mirror, he died hours after he was born.
Though Spencer was hoping for another boy, Diana Frances was born the next year. In 1964, the couple welcomed their youngest, Charles Edward Maurice, who would eventually inherit Earl Spencer’s title.
They lived in a home owned by the royal family
There’s always been something special about Park House. It’s difficult to put a finger on what it is,” Diana’s former nanny Ingrid Crane told CNNin 2007.
In the mid-70s, the Spencer family left Park House and moved to the Althorp Estate, the Spencer family home located in Northamptonshire, England. According to the BBC, Diana loved the property. Her body was buried on the groundsfollowing her death in 1997. The estate is currently owned by Diana’s brother, Charles
They divorced when Princess Diana was young
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We just drifted apart, and there was nothing either of us could do about it,” Shand Kydd said at the time, according to The Telegraph. They divorced in 1969.
Spencer was awarded sole custody of his children, and while Sarah and Jane left to attend boarding school, Diana and her younger brother lived at Althorp with their dad.
Their mother married Peter Shand Kydd in 1969, although the two later divorced in 1990.
“Diana and I had two older sisters who were away at school, so she and I were very much in it together and I did talk to her about it,” Charles told The Sunday Times in 2020. “Our father was a quiet and constant source of love, but our mother wasn’t cut out for maternity. Not her fault, she couldn’t do it. She was in love with someone else — infatuated, really.”
John Spencer remarried without telling his kids
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In 1976, Spencer wed Raine McCorquodalewithout telling his children. When Diana found out, she was so upset that she smacked her father across the face.
“I was the little crusader here … and I got really angry and I, if I remember rightly, I slapped him across the face, and I said, ‘That’s from all of us, for hurting us’ and walked out and slammed the door,” Diana said in video tapes recorded with her voice coach, according to the Daily Mail.
