Diana’s nieces, the Spencer twins, add royal glamour to the Spring Racing Carnival
The visiting twin nieces of Princess Diana share their plans to attend the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne as ambassadors for the Victoria Racing Club.
Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza Spencer, the twin nieces of the late Princess Diana, are ready to fall in love with Australia.
“It’s somewhere we’ve always wanted to go. We’ve never been before,” Lady Amelia told Vogue Australia in an interview for the November issue.
The sisters, aged 31, are visiting our shores for the first time as official ambassadors for the Victoria Racing Club, following in the footsteps of their older sister, Lady Kitty Spencer, who has previously attended the Melbourne Cup Carnival, and their aunt Princess Diana, who was guest of honour at the 1985 Melbourne Cup.
“Kitty said that everyone in Australia is just so warm and happy and welcoming and social, you know, and fun to be around,” Lady Amelia said.
“She’s always said, ‘I know that if you guys go to Australia you will probably never come back’ – because it’s so similar to the way we grew up. Always in the outdoors and beautiful nature.”
The daughters of Earl Spencer, brother to Princess Diana, and his former wife, model Victoria Lockwood – their siblings include Lady Kitty and Lord Louis, Viscount Althorp – grew up in Constantia, an affluent suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, where the family moved in 1995 to avoid the scrutiny that came with the Spencer name. These days, both sisters now live in London in the suburb of Fulham. (Two days before their Vogue Australia photoshoot, Lady Eliza moved from the nearby suburb of Battersea to be closer to her twin. “Twenty minutes between us was too far,” she laughs.)
“We would come back to England a couple of times a year to see family,” Lady Amelia said. “So as children, we were exposed to both a very laid-back lifestyle at home and a very traditional time in England.”
Lady Eliza agreed: “It really was the best of both worlds.”
Fashion wise, the twins are looking forward to getting racewear ready in Melbourne. The sisters will be on course at Flemington for Lexus Melbourne Cup Day on Tuesday and Kennedy Oaks Day on Thursday, acting as judges in the final rounds of Fashions on the Field across both race days.
“We love Australian fashion,” said Lady Amelia. “There are a lot of relaxed, natural, laid-back designs, very similar to our style. It’s like South African style, too. Beachy, relaxed, feminine.”
They say their style is “relaxed and casual”.
“We’ve really stuck to how we grew up, with jeans and T-shirts,” Lady Amelia said.
