Frances Shand Kydd

Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Short description Template:Infobox noble Frances Ruth Shand Kydd (previously Spencer, née Roche; 20 January 1936 – 3 June 2004) was the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales. She was the maternal grandmother of William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, respectively first and fifth in the line of succession to the British throne. Born into British aristocracy, she was the daughter of Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, and Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, a confidante of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Following her divorce from Viscount Althorp in 1969, and Diana's death in 1997, Shand Kydd devoted her later years to Catholic charity work after converting to Catholicism.

Early life

Frances Ruth Roche was born on 20 January 1936 at Park House, located on the royal estate at Sandringham in Norfolk.<ref>England & Wales, Birth Index, Jan–Feb–Mar 1936, 4b 344, Freedbridge Lynn, Norfolk</ref><ref name="cor4june">Template:Cite news</ref> Her birth was on the same day as the death of King George V. Her father was Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, a friend of King George VI and the elder son of the American heiress Frances Ellen Work and her first husband, the 3rd Baron Fermoy.<ref name=cor4june/> Her mother, Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, a daughter of Colonel William Smith Gill, was a confidante and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother).<ref name="Telegraph obit">Template:Cite news</ref> Since birth, she held the style of The Honourable as the daughter of a baron. She was educated at Downham School in Essex.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Marriage and children

On 1 June 1954, she married John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (later the 8th Earl Spencer), at Westminster Abbey.<ref name=cor4june/> Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family attended the ceremony.<ref name="mgaz1june">Template:Cite news</ref> Aged 18, she became the youngest woman to marry at Westminster Abbey since 1893.<ref name=mgaz1june/>

They had five children:

Lady Sarah McCorquodale (born 19 March 1955), who married Neil Edmund McCorquodale, a second cousin once removed of her stepmother, Raine, Countess Spencer.
Lady Jane Fellowes (born 11 February 1957), who married Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes, then Private Secretary to the Sovereign.
The Honourable John Spencer (12 January 1960 – 12 January 1960), died within ten hours of his birth
Diana, Princess of Wales (1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), first wife of Charles III.
Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer (born 20 May 1964), who married firstly Victoria Lockwood, secondly Caroline Freud (née Hutton and former wife of Matthew Freud), and thirdly, Karen Villeneuve until 2024.

According to leading gossip columnist and author Penny Junor "Johnny could be violent, and [Frances] felt she and her children would be safer out of the home."<ref name="CNN-doc">Template:Cite web</ref> Their daughter Diana also recalled "seeing my father slap my mother across the face and I was hiding behind the door and she was crying."<ref name="CNN-doc"/>

Divorce and remarriage

Her marriage to Viscount Althorp was not a happy one and, in 1967, she left him to be with Peter Shand Kydd, an heir to a wallpaper fortune in Australia, whom she had met the year before. His half-brother was the former champion amateur jockey William Shand Kydd (1937–2014), who was the brother-in-law of John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan. <ref name=cor4june/> Frances lived with her two youngest children, Diana and Charles, in London during the separation in 1967, but during that year's Christmas holidays, Viscount Althorp refused to let his children return to London with their mother.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was granted custody of their children by the courts after his former mother-in-law, Lady Fermoy, testified against her own daughter Frances.<ref>The Times (London), Thursday, 8 July 1993; p. 4 col. D and p. 19 col. A</ref>

Frances and Peter Shand Kydd were married on 2 May 1969 and lived on the Scottish island of Seil, where they bought an 18th-century farmhouse called Ardencaple,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 10 kilometres from Oban. She divided her time between London, Seil and another sheep farm in Yass, New South Wales. On 14 July 1976, John Spencer, now the 8th Earl Spencer, married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, daughter of the novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.<ref name="scotsman04">Template:Cite news</ref> Although Frances lived a quiet life, she was thrust into public view following the engagement of her daughter Diana to Prince Charles (later Charles III) on 24 February 1981.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Frances and her second husband Peter separated in June 1988.<ref name="Telegraph obit"/> In 1993 Peter Shand Kydd married Marie-Pierre Palmer (née Bécret),<ref name="standard/7231369">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="thefreelibrary/a0117653046">Template:Cite news</ref> a French woman who ran a champagne-importing business in London.<ref>Max Riddington. Frances – The Remarkable Story of Princess Diana's Mother</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Later years

In 1996, she was banned from driving after being convicted of drunk driving,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but denied she had a problem with alcohol.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She and Diana quarrelled in May 1997, after Frances told Hello! magazine it was "absolutely wonderful" that Diana had lost her title of "Her Royal Highness" following her divorce from Charles. They were reportedly not on speaking terms at the time of Diana's death.<ref>Template:Cite news Archived from the original on 9 November 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2025.</ref>

She spent her later years in solitude on Seil.<ref name="her26oct">Template:Cite news</ref> She became a Catholic and devoted herself to Catholic charities.<ref name="cor4june" /> She eventually became involved with The Hosanna House and Children's Pilgrimage Trust, the Royal National Mission for Deep Sea Fishermen, the Mallaig and Northwest Fishermen's Association, and the National Search and Rescue Dogs Association.<ref name="Telegraph obit"/>

In October 2002, when Frances left her Scottish home to give testimony at the trial of Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, burglars targeted her house and stole her jewellery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Death and burial

Frances died at her home in Scotland on 3 June 2004, aged 68, following a long illness that included Parkinson's disease and brain cancer.<ref name="hello">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her funeral was held at St Columba's Cathedral in Oban on 10 June, attended by her children, sister and grandchildren, including Princes William (who gave a reading) and Harry.<ref name="mea4june">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="per11jun">Template:Cite news</ref> Their father, her former son-in-law, Charles, did not attend, as he was travelling to Washington to represent the Royal Family at the state funeral of the former US President Ronald Reagan the following day. Frances was buried in Pennyfuir Cemetery in Oban, Argyll and Bute.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Biography

In 2001, Maxine Riddington published a biographical book about her, entitled Frances: The Remarkable Story of Princess Diana's Mother.<ref name="amazon">Template:Cite book</ref>

Ancestry

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References

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Bibliography

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External links

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