Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer and Family 1: Ending Aug. 2023

[princess olga]

I still don't see this becoming a huge thing in the rest of the States. Unless she writes a tell all book.

Oh my gosh! You are so right: fast forward a year or so from now. CNN's Larry King: "..and next up, dear viewers: The Ohio news woman who stole Princess Diana's brother, She's here in the studio to discuss her new book, "The Earl And Me." Right after these messages. Don't go away!"

 

[Lady Jennifer]

Didn't he go off with mistresses when his first wife was pregnant? It seems he doesn't care for pregnant spouses or ones who have just given birth. If this Coleen wants to keep him, she'd better be using effective birth control.

Maybe he's not a fan of being with a woman (as in married) after she's been pregnant. Its not right, but its been known to happen.

 

[Zonk]

Very valid points.

He's like Elvis...Priscilla mentioned that after the birth of Lisa Marie things changed in their relationship.

Yes, Colleen needs to stay on that birth control. Or she is going to lose that man. I wouldn't order any monogrammed towels!

 

[princess olga]

Or unless she uses that gun.

In which case, she'd have a lot of spare time to pen that book

Didn't he go off with mistresses when his first wife was pregnant?

I'm not a psychologist, but there's definitely a pattern there indeed.

Yes, Colleen needs to stay on that birth control. Or she is going to lose that man. I wouldn't order any monogrammed towels!

LOL! My take is she'll lose him in time anyway, give it a year or two at most, and he'll get bored again and find someone new, I'd bet.

 

[Jo of Palatine]

I guess for a career in the US media the title of countess and "Diana's sister-in-law" is enough - divorced or not. So I bet she wants to marry him, even if it lasts only 10 minutes or so....

 

[Bella]

This whole thing is news to me so I guess it didn't make any sort of blip on the East Coast.

Earl Spencer is a joke. It's a shame, too, 'cuz he could have maintained the respect he was given after Diana's death, but he chose a different path. Being the child of divorced parents ~ no matter how ugly the divorce was ~ is no excuse. He's an adult now with children of his own and he needs to step up and behave like an adult. Frankly, I feel the guy could def. benefit from some serious therapy sessions. I do feel badly for his children because his antics are highly embarrassing. I also feel he's an embarassment for his royal nephews, who I'm sure have little to do with him. This guy needs to straighten his act out before he loses all credibility.

 

[sesa]

guy needs to straighten his act out before he loses all credibility.

What credibilty does he have left? None! He profited off his dead sister that he claimed he loved so much.
He cheated on his past 2 wives.
fought with another man in front of his children.
Is renting out his family estate to make money so he can continue his current lifestyle, not to maintain the estate as he stated. (that is strictly my opinion)
And now he flaunted his current girlfriend in front of his children on a major family holiday.
And those are only the things that we have read/heard about. He has no credibility as a man or a human being. He cares only for his instant gratification. No one else matters but himself.\
After Diana's funeral, I really like how he spoke up for himself and defended his sister. But since then, he has proved himself to be a childish, pathetic loser. I don't mean to offend anyone with this, it's just my opinion.

 

[CATS]

Actually that is around the time found my interest in royalty. Anyone who can say what he said at a funeral (a celeabration of someones life) doesn't deserve respect. In those minites I lost all respect for him, and was proven correct. He said those words in front of two young men who love family no matter what.

 

[Incas]

His speech would have been more sincere if he didn't bring his mistress to the gathering, while legally married to Victoria. He wasn't even with the woman for long afterwards. Not to long before his father died, there were articles about Charles Spencer and his sisters unhappy with their stepmother for selling off heirloom portraits to finance upkeep for Althorpe. Now he is selling knockoff furnitures and renting out his sister's bedroom. He just comes across as an arrogant and amoral jerk. I don't know if his latest romance and business ventures leave him much time for his children from both marriages. If not, I think that's a blessing for the children. And if this Colleen is half as good a reporter as her fans in Dayton seem to believe, she shouldn't expect to pick out china patterns with the earl.

 

[wymanda]

After Diana's funeral, I really like how he spoke up for himself and defended his sister.

Yes but even then he exhibited the height of bad manners. He showed no respect for his godmother - abusing her and her family in public (be his godmother the Queen or the Char-woman) and (be public Westminster Abbey or the Parish Church). All this also done in front of his greiving nephews. I was always taught that if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all.

 

[theprincess]

''Slimy Spencer with new beauty''
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006600500,00.html

 

[georgiea]

The last article posted - is it really acturate?

Earl Spencer is not in his fifties. He is younger than Diana.
Diana this year would have turned 46 I think.

 

[Warren]

The last article posted - is it really acturate?
Earl Spencer is not in his fifties. He is younger than Diana.

Earl Spencer was born on 20 May 1964, so he is 42.
With a London tabloid now calling him "Slimy Spencer" he appears to be losing much of the gravitas he acquired at the time of his sister's death and funeral.

 

[Skydragon]

The gravitas he acquired from some people after his little outburst, was very fleeting. Many people couldn't understand how he could have chosen such an event to have a temper tantrum.

It was a bit like the newspapers, trying to point the finger at anyone, rather than accept his own bad behavior towards his sister.

 

[sassie]

Yes but even then he exhibited the height of bad manners. He showed no respect for his godmother - abusing her and her family in public (be his godmother the Queen or the Char-woman) and (be public Westminster Abbey or the Parish Church). All this also done in front of his greiving nephews. I was always taught that if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all.

Couldn't agree more.

Although it wasn't widely known at the time, Earl Spencer's personal behaviour wasn't so exemplary-he had no right to be pointing a finger at anyone else.

A eulogy is intended to pay tribute to the life of the person being eulogized-not for personal attacks.

Where was Earl Spencer's defense of his sister when she was alive?

 

[Lily97]

No where to be seen Sassie. He never defended Diana when she was alive. As I recall, the one time she did try to lean on him and wanted to live on the estate he changed his mind. What a kind brother he was!

Lily

 

[sassie]

Well, to be fair, Ken Wharfe did state in his book that Spencer changed his mind about letting Diana have the Garden House on the Althorp grounds after Wharfe had inspected it and told him it wasn't practical for security reasons. Spencer offered Diana several alternatives that would have worked better, including the Pheasantry, another house on the estate, but she turned him down. Spencer didn't change his mind out of mean spiritedness-that was Paul Burrell's slant on the issue-and it's no secret that Burrell has his own axe to grind where the Spencers are concerned.

But, we also never heard Spencer speak in defense of his sister during her lifetime. If the Royal Family's treatment of Diana bothered him so deeply, he sure kept quiet about it. If he was concerned with his sister's battle with bulimia, he kept that a big secret as well.

It was cruel and insensitive of him to deliver the remarks against the Queen and the Royal Family with Diana's sons sitting there, forced to listen, on the day they were burying their beloved mother far sooner than they should have. Spencer spoke of Diana's family 'protecting' the boys-well, where was his 'protection' then?

 

[princess olga]

but if I remember correctly he was quoted openly in that 1992 bombshell book in which it was revealed how the RF <really> treated Diana, what with Charles and Camilla, etc. I rmember him being quoted in that book to defend his sister if I'm not mistaken.

What I find weird though but this is perhaps for another thread, is how Spencer's royal nephews managed to snub HIM and the entire Spencer family after their mother's untimely death! Even their grandmother, they hardly visited her in her last years according to the media. Why oh why do William and Harry snub their mother's family?

 

[Elspeth]

Well, when you say "according to the media," you may have answered your own question at least to an extent. If the media can create controversy or stir up emotions, they're likely to sell more copies of whatever they're producing. Frances Shand Kydd wasn't in good health for several years before she died, and it does sound from her biography as though she saw her Windsor grandchildren sometimes, even if not very often. We don't know how often she saw her other grandchildren, for that matter. And as far as the Earl is concerned, he was living in South Africa for some of the time and he'd pretty much declared war on the royal family with that speech at Diana's funeral, so William and Harry might have been a bit wary about getting too close.

 

[sassie]

but if I remember correctly he was quoted openly in that 1992 bombshell book in which it was revealed how the RF <really> treated Diana, what with Charles and Camilla, etc. I rmember him being quoted in that book to defend his sister if I'm not mistaken.

If you are speaking of the Morton book, I beg to differ. Spencer is quoted a few times about their childhood and the Spencer family, but there are no quotes or opinions attributed to him that address the Royal Family, the state of his sister's marriage, her bulimia, her children, his brother in law's infidelity, etc. Several other people offered opinions and viewpoints to Morton about those things, but Spencer did not, nor did he speak in his sister's defense.

 

[princess olga]

Well, when you say "according to the media," you may have answered your own question at least to an extent. If the media can create controversy or stir up emotions, they're likely to sell more copies of whatever they're producing. Frances Shand Kydd wasn't in good health for several years before she died, and it does sound from her biography as though she saw her Windsor grandchildren sometimes, even if not very often. We don't know how often she saw her other grandchildren, for that matter. And as far as the Earl is concerned, he was living in South Africa for some of the time and he'd pretty much declared war on the royal family with that speech at Diana's funeral, so William and Harry might have been a bit wary about getting too close.

Good point, we don't really know whether or not they remained close! I should probably stop reading things like the 'Daily Mail', . OTOH it is known they've been invited to a few vacations with Jane and Sarah's families, that they declined, but that may well be because both boys don't exactly have eons of free time I take it. I don't know, also from what Spencer himself has stated publicly, I don't get the impression of the two princes being close with Diana's siblings. may also have to do with the fact that Diana, in her last days, wasn't exactly close to her mother and brother for example..

If you are speaking of the Morton book, I beg to differ. Spencer is quoted a few times about their childhood and the Spencer family, but there are no quotes or opinions attributed to him that address the Royal Family, the state of his sister's marriage, her bulimia, her children, his brother in law's infidelity, etc. Several other people offered opinions and viewpoints to Morton about those things, but Spencer did not, nor did he speak in his sister's defense.

but the fact he was quoted in that book at all, that I took as an endorsement of him to his sister's decision not taking the situation lying down any more. I took it as some form of defending her.

 

[sassie]

but the fact he was quoted in that book at all, that I took as an endorsement of him to his sister's decision not taking the situation lying down any more. I took it as some form of defending her.

Well, that's your interpretation-but I respectfully say that it is not mine. The majority of quotes from Spencer in the book were old ones that Morton lifted from other sources. There's no evidence that he ever came to her aid during the height of her bulimia or the troubles in her marriage. Before her death, Spencer never spoke out to defend his sister on any of the points he made against the Queen and the Royal Family in his eulogy, and the fact that he chose then to do so, in the presence of her sons, in hardly commendable. JMO.

 

[Duchess]

not that i condone spencer's outburst at the funeral...i agree it wasn't the time or place for something like that...but let me put this out there and get your thoughts:

perhaps he didn't publicly defend diana but might have in private? i'm thinking that if he had said anything publicly it might have made things more difficult for her. any thoughts??

 

[Lily97]

Perhaps Duchess, correct me if I am wrong but did any of Diana's family defend her when she was alive?

Lily

 

[Skydragon]

Diana had fallen out with her mother and had a troubled relationship with her sisters at the time of her death and throughout her marriage.

 

[sassie]

Diana made her own path difficult-he couldn't have made it any worse after the Morton book.
I doubt that he offered her much support privately. By his own admission, he was not close to Diana..and Earl Spencer doesn't seem to be a man endowed with much sensitivity.

 

[sirhon11234]

quote

Diana had fallen out with her mother and had a troubled relationship with her sisters at the time of her death and throughout her marriage.

I know Diana wasn't on the best of terms with Jane before her death. But I thought Diana and Sarah were really close. Wasn't Sarah Diana's lady-in-waiting at one time.

 

[Zonk]

Yes, Sarah was Diana's Lady in Waiting...and also an executor of her estate. So while they had some issues...she was closer to Sarah than Jane. I believe Diana felt that Jane's husband (Sir Robert Fellowes) who worked for the Queen was not on her side...and felt that her sister's allegiance was towards her husband and not her sister.

Also what was the age difference between the siblings? Diana was closer to her brother because he was younger than her...weren't the two older girls already in boarding school by the time the parents divorced?

 

[sirhon11234]

weren't the two older girls already in boarding school by the time the parents divorced?

Yes they were that could also had played a factor in the sibling's relationship.

 

[Elspeth]

Sarah Spencer was born in 1955, Jane was born in 1957, Diana in 1961, and Charles in 1964. So when their parents divorced, Sarah and Jane would have been around 14 and 12.