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Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer

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British countess (1897–1972)

The Right HonourableThe Countess SpencerDCVO OBE
Spencer in 1939
BornLady Cynthia Elinor Beatrix Hamilton
(1897-08-16)16 August 1897
London, England
Died4 December 1972(1972-12-04) (aged 75)
Althorp, Northamptonshire, England
Spouse Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer ​ ​(m. 1919)​
ChildrenLady Anne Wake-Walker
John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer
Parents
FamilyHamilton (by birth)
Spencer (by marriage)

Cynthia Ellinor Beatrix Spencer, Countess Spencer DCVO OBE (née Hamilton; 16 August 1897 – 4 December 1972) was a British peeress and the paternal grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Life and family

Cynthia Hamilton was the daughter of James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton, later 3rd Duke of Abercorn (30 November 1869 – 12 September 1953) and Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham (26 February 1869 – 18 January 1958). Her maternal grandparents were Charles Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan, and Lady Cecilia Catherine Gordon-Lennox, a daughter of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond, and Lady Caroline Paget.

Hamilton married Viscount Althorp on 26 February 1919 at St James's Church, Piccadilly, London.

They had two children:

Countess Spencer was appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth in 1937. She continued in the role after Elizabeth became Queen Mother in 1952, and remained in post until her death.

She was the grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Lady Spencer died at the Spencers' ancestral home, Althorp, of a brain tumour on 4 December 1972, aged 75. The Cynthia Spencer Hospice in Northampton is named in her memory.

Countess Spencer was little known outside court and local circles until, twenty years after her death, Andrew Morton wrote that the Princess of Wales "believes that her grandmother looks after her in the spirit world."

Honours

Notes and sources

  1. Williamson, D. The Ancestry of Lady Diana Spencer In: Genealogist's Magazine, 1981; Vol. 20 (#6) pp. 192–199, and Vol. 20 (#8) pp. 281–82
  2. "Wake-Walker (death announcement)". Telegraphannouncements (The Daily Telegraph). Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  3. Russell, Steve (10 March 2020). "How Princess Diana's aunt had to flee Nazi-inspired riots". Ipswich Star (Suffolk, UK). Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  4. de Courcy, Anne (2005). Debs At War 1939-1945: How Wartime Changed Their Lives. London: Phoenix (Orion Books, Ltd.). p. 194.
  5. Cichowski, Heather (26 February 2020). "Princess Diana's aunt, Lady Anne Wake-Walker, has died at age 99-and-a-half". Hello!. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. Mosley, C. (ed.) Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th edition (Burke's Peerage, Crans, Switzerland, 1999) vol. 2, pg. 2673
  7. The Times (London), Wednesday, 6 December 1972; p. 32, col. A
  8. "History". Cynthia Spencer Hospice. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  9. Andrew Morton, Diana: Her True Story (BCA, 1992) p. 24.
  10. "No. 36035". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 4 June 1943. p. 2494.
  11. "No. 39863". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2946.

References

  • G. E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H. A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), vol. XIII, p. 39.
  • Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd., 1999), vol. I p. 6 and vol. 2 p. 2673
  • C. F. J. Hankinson, editor, Debretts Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, 147th year (London: Odhams Press, 1949), p. 1007.
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