Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer reveals ‘immensely sad’ divorce from third wife

Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer has revealed the “immensely sad” divorce from his third wife, as rumours swirl about the Sussexes.

Princess Diana’s brother and his third wife have revealed they are divorcing, after the pressure of writing his memoir for which he was forced to relive harrowing details of physical and sexual abuse he suffered at boarding school.

The Earl of Spencer’s marriage to the Countess of Spencer crumbled after he buried himself for five years in the book, which also details the trauma of his mother leaving him and his sister Diana when he was three-years-old.

The discovery of his 1976 school diary, in which he alleges the assistant matron sexually abused him, had unexpectedly sent him reeling and opened up traumas of the past, culminating in him needing rehab for trauma last year, he previously admitted.

Earl Charles Spencer and his third wife, Countess Karen Spencer attend the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in 2018. Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage

It is understood Charles and Karen quietly confirmed their split to staff at Althorp, the family estate in Northamptonshire where Princess Diana is buried, three months ago in March.

Earl Spencer said on Sunday the divorce was “immensely sad”.

He and Canadian philanthropist Karen Gordon wed in June 2011 at Althorp, a year after meeting on a blind date at a restaurant in the States.

They share a daughter together, Lady Charlotte Diana Spencer, who was born in 2012 and raised at Althorp.

Image from A Very Private School by Charles Spencer. Spencer aged four, with his sister, Diana, 1968. Picture: Supplied

In an interview with The Sunday Times in 2020, Spencer boasted: “Karen and I both appreciate what the other does and look after what we have. Neither of us has found happiness like this before.”

Charles is father to Lady Kitty Spencer, twins Eliza and Amelia Spencer and Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, with his ex-wife Victoria Aitkin.

He also has a son Edmund and daughter Lara, from his second marriage to Caroline Freud.

He told the Mail on Sunday: “I (now) just want to devote myself to all my children, and to my grandchildren, and I wish Karen every happiness in the future.”

Earl Spencer is the uncle of Prince Harry, and as the relationship between King Charles and Harry appears to remain fractured, the Duke of Sussex has remained close to his uncle, along with the late Princess Diana’s other siblings: Lady Jane Fellowes, and Lady Sarah McCorquodale, historian Tessa Dunlop told The Sun.

Screengrabs of Prince Harry and Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer. Picture: Instagram

Prince Harry and Earl Spencer during The Invictus Games Foundation 10th Anniversary Service. Picture: Instagram

But amid the family distancing between Prince Harry, his father and his brother, the Duke of Sussex also rocked the royal boat with the publication of his own memoir, and his relationship with Meghan Markle is under new scrutiny.

Sky News reported on rumours: that Prince Harry was “terrified” of Meghan leaving him, and that their relationship might be under strain caused by Harry’s family distancing, writer and broadcaster Esther Krakue said.

“We don’t know the nature of the relationship,” she said, or the extent to which Markle’s lack of understanding of the importance of Harry’s family ties “may have placed strain on the relationship. On the other hand, the marriage may be a way for Harry to cope with his departure from the Royal Family more broadly,” Krakue continued.

“But we can see how that could cause a strain.”

Originally published as Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer reveals ‘immensely sad’ divorce from third wife