Spencer Relationships - Page 3

**Zonk** · #41 04-06-2006, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christo's Girl

I think William and Harry have always been closer to Peter and Zara and that makes sense, they understand about publicity and dealings with the press. I have a feeling that William and Harry don't see alot of their Spencer relations even though Earl Spencer may want us to think otherwise. I always found it interesting that Diana never asked either of her sisters to be a Godmother to her sons.

Doesn't necessarily mean anything....neither Anne nor Edward are godparents to any of their sibiling's kids.

And I have also read that William and Harry are close to their Spencer cousins (at least Sarah and Jane's children), of course they don't see them as regularly as their Windsors cousins....but whose to say that they don't see them and its not reported. Didn't Laura go on that love boat cruise with the boys?

Oppie · #42 04-06-2006, 02:26 PM

Laura is the one that seems to usually be around. Even going way back she was a flower girl at Andrew and Sarah's wedding.

Speaking of the Spencer cousins, I remember a few years ago one of them I think it was Emily McCorquodale had cancer has there been an update ?

dmarie1623 · #43 09-14-2007, 10:00 AM

Hi Everyone! I was just wondering what type of relationship do they, Prince William and Prince Harry, have with their uncle and aunts? Are they close with any of their Spencer cousins?

Rebafan81 · #44 09-14-2007, 11:03 AM

From everything I have read, which you can't always trust, they don't have much of a relationship with the Spencers. I read that Jane and Sara atttended some of the boys events at school when they were at Eton but haven't heard much since. I hope now that they are older and can control more of their socal lives, they will get to know their other family a little better. I am not sure that Diana had much of a relationship with her siblings either.

dmarie1623 · #45 09-14-2007, 11:53 AM

Thank you. It's sad that they aren't close with their mother's family.

CasiraghiTrio · #46 09-14-2007, 05:33 PM

I have read conflicting things about this, so I can only guess at the truth. I believe that the princes maintain contacts with their maternal family as far as their busy lives enable them to do. This is to say that they probably do as much as any of us do in regards to keeping tabs on loved ones. They can't be expected to see everyone everyday, or every week, but they have phones and E-mails and text messages. The lack of photographs to prove the relationships hardly negates the possibility of their maintaining good relationships, or contacts with the Spencer clans.

BeatrixFan · #47 09-14-2007, 05:40 PM

After that God awful funeral speech, I doubt they'd have anything to do with the Spencers without bringing on the wrath of the grandparents.

CasiraghiTrio · #48 09-15-2007, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

After that God awful funeral speech, I doubt they'd have anything to do with the Spencers without bringing on the wrath of the grandparents.

Honestly, I can't imagine the Queen being angry or putting her foot down with her grandchildren. She never was like that with her children, and I think she would be even more passive with her beloved grandchildren. As for Prince Philip, maybe he is more vocal about his opinions (ok, probably is!)

All the same, he doesn't seem like an unreasonable person, and if William and Harry want to have connections with people, as long as they aren't hardcore criminals, why should he protest? Yes, Earl Spencer is a jerk, but he hardly represents the whole Spencer family. Lady Jane Fellowes always strikes me as a classy woman. Even Spencer's kids have a mother too, whom they must see often as she lives in South Africa and (when they aren't at Stowe) they live there too. So they might derive good sense from her to balance out the damage inflicted by their father!

Al_bina · #49 09-15-2007, 01:07 PM

I would define the Princes’ relationships with the Spencers as “wedding and funerals”. This implies that the relationships seldom go beyond official engagements.

branchg · #50 09-15-2007, 01:30 PM

Supposedly, they are on very good terms with Lady Jane and keep in touch. The Earl Spencer and Lady Sarah are formal relationships with little closeness.

CasiraghiTrio · #51 09-15-2007, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by branchg

Supposedly, they are on very good terms with Lady Jane and keep in touch. The Earl Spencer and Lady Sarah are formal relationships with little closeness.

This is believable to me. Lady Fellowes has never sought attention. I imagine her royal nephews hold her in high regard for that.

LOSSEAN · #52 09-16-2007, 07:13 PM

I have always held the view that they have no contact with their maternal relatives but after seeing the coverage of the Concert for Diana and the Memorial Service, I now believe that they have been in touch through the years.

Duke of Thora · #53 09-20-2007, 07:33 AM

Like any extended family there are bound to be likes and dislikes. I remember Viscount Linley famously saying the worst thing in the world would be dinner with Princess Michael. After the late Queen Mothers nephew married the nurse, the family had nothing to do with either of them until both had passed on. Maybe with the volitility and anguish of Charles Spencer it was thought that endless feuding and acrimonious encounters would serve no good anywhere. But then again didn't Frances Shand Kydd specifically bar Charles from her funeral. Old hatreds die hard.

CasiraghiTrio · #54 09-20-2007, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al_bina

I would define the Princes’ relationships with the Spencers as “wedding and funerals”. This implies that the relationships seldom go beyond official engagements.

I think this is pretty much the sum of it. Maybe they do see them on occasion at parties but mostly I think just on big family gatherings like the concert and thanksgiving service, funerals, weddings, etc. I'm sure we will see all the Spencer cousins again at the Princes' weddings, at the christenings of their kids, and when the Spencer cousins marry, I imagine the Princes will be invited.

Duke of Thora · #55 09-23-2007, 08:13 AM

Winston Churchill forced the current Queen to reinstate the name of House of Windsor in 1955 following unguarded comments made by Dickie Mountbatten in London circles in the 50's that the "Battenburgs" 'now ruled in England.' It is accepted that descendents of H.M. The Queen and HRH the Prince Phillip are surnamed Mountbatten-Windsor. The rest of the family, ie descendents of HRH The Dukes of Kent and Gloucester and Prince Michael, being the only males in the grandson line from GEORGEV are simply surnamed WINDSOR, ie Lord Frederick Windsor. On the occasion of both of her weddings the Princess Royal used the name Mountbatten-Windsor to sign the wedding registry. I hope this clears this up.. because it is not a case of 'whatever name they are using now' As an Australian, you realise Elizabeth is very much Queen of Australia, and curiously by a constitutional quirk, Queen of Queensland as well, a title that cannot be alienated from her by any Act of the Australian parliament. Should we become a republic, she will still remain Queen of Queensland.(Coincidentally both states Victoria and Queensland were named by the old queen personally after herself much to the amusement of the then Prime Minister,Benjamin Disraeli)

Duke of Thora · #56 09-23-2007, 08:24 AM

The British aristocracy is not so much Spencer Churchills, ie Dukes of Marlborough, Earl Spencers etcetera, but members of Cavendish Bentinck family-The Dukes of Portland. Current or recently deceased collateral members in the Royal family who are Portands include HM the Late Queen Mother: Sarah, Duchess of York: Serena Viscountess Linley, and HRH Camilla, Princess of Wales. These ladies are all cousins of varying degrees.The only notable Spencer connection is Camilla's ex husband, Andrew Parker Bowles who is cousin of the Duke of Marlborough on his mothers side. Andrew no doubt would have married Princess Anne, but as he is a Catholic he was procluded.

georgiea · #57 09-23-2007, 10:29 AM

Duke of Thora - Do you know is it this Cavendish family that the Kathleen Kennedy married into? (President Kennedy's sister.)

sirhon11234 · #58 09-23-2007, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke of Thora

The British aristocracy is not so much Spencer Churchills, ie Dukes of Marlborough, Earl Spencers etcetera, but members of Cavendish Bentinck family-The Dukes of Portland. Current or recently deceased collateral members in the Royal family who are Portands include HM the Late Queen Mother: Sarah, Duchess of York: Serena Viscountess Linley, and HRH Camilla, Princess of Wales. These ladies are all cousins of varying degrees.The only notable Spencer connection is Camilla's ex husband, Andrew Parker Bowles who is cousin of the Duke of Marlborough on his mothers side. Andrew no doubt would have married Princess Anne, but as he is a Catholic he was procluded.

Yes, I also heard that Camilla and the Princess of Wales are also distant cousins.

CasiraghiTrio · #59 09-24-2007, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by georgiea

Duke of Thora - Do you know is it this Cavendish family that the Kathleen Kennedy married into? (President Kennedy's sister.)

Yes, Kathleen Kennedy either was engaged to marry or married (I don't remember how far they got) the heir of the Duke of Devonshire (who have the surname Cavendish). Didn't they die in a plane crash on their way to get married?