Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, hires the same divorce lawyer King Charles used
Princess Diana’s brother recently announced he was divorcing his third wife, and now, he’s made a very surprising legal move.
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Charles Spencer tapped the same high-profile divorce lawyer used by his former brother-in-law, King Charles, to work out his split from wife Karen Gordon.
The Times reported that Spencer, the younger brother of Princess Diana, hired Fiona Shackleton to represent him amid divorce proceedings from Gordon.
Shackleton, known for being “a demon negotiator,” backed the then prince amid his bitter 1996 divorce from Diana, which resulted in her losing her HRH title.
Shackleton also represented Prince Andrew in his divorce from Sarah Ferguson that same year.
Outside the royal realm, Shackleton also famously worked for Sir Paul McCartney and Madonna amid their respective divorces from Heather Mills and Guy Ritchie in the late 2000s.
According to the Daily Mail, Shackleton will cost Spencer a pretty penny, charging over $1000 per hour.
The update on Spencer’s legal defence came just a few days after the 60-year-old publicly announced that he and Gordon, 52, were divorcing after 13 years of marriage.
“It is immensely sad,” he told the Daily Mail Saturday.
“I just want to devote myself to all my children, and to my grandchildren, and I wish Karen every happiness in the future.”
The couple, who wed in June 2011, share 12-year-old daughter Charlotte Diana, whose moniker pays tribute to her late aunt. Diana died in a 1997 car crash.
Spencer is also dad to six children from his first two marriages. He was married to Victoria Lockwood from 1989 to 1997 and Caroline Freud from 2001 to 2007.
Gordon, for her part, has two daughters with ex-husband Mark Gordon, a Hollywood producer.
The estranged couple reportedly told the staff at Althorp House, the Spencer family estate where Diana is buried, about their split in April.
Their relationship reportedly soured while the 9th Earl Spencer was writing his memoir, A Very Private School, which detailed some of his childhood trauma.
He told the Daily Mail that writing the book over a five-year period took a serious toll on his mental health and he ultimately sought residential trauma treatment to work out some of his issues.
Spencer told People in March that his wife was extremely “supportive” of his decision.
“I think it was very challenging for her to have a husband going through what was essentially four and a half years of the most profound therapy with very difficult undertones to it,” he told the outlet. “And she supported the idea of me doing it.”
Spencer said his wife just wanted him to be “happier and healthier.”
“And that seems to be the case very much. So, I’m grateful to have her standing by me while I went through this, what I now realise was an essential process.”
Amid their split, Spencer has reportedly grown close with Norwegian archaeologist Cat Jarman, whom he co-hosts a history podcast with.
This story originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, hires the same divorce lawyer King Charles used
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