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Earldom of Spencer
Coat of arms
Creation date	1 November 1765; 259 years ago (1 November 1765)
Created by	George III
Peerage	Peerage of Great Britain
First holder	John Spencer, 1st Viscount Spencer
Present holder	Charles Spencer, 9th Earl
Heir apparent	Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp
Remainder to	1st Earl's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titles	Viscount Althorp Viscount Spencer Baron Spencer of Althorp
Seat(s)	Althorp Spencer House

Earl Spencer is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created on 1 November 1765, along with the title Viscount Althorp, of Althorp in the County of Northampton, for John Spencer, 1st Viscount Spencer. He was a member of the prominent Spencer family and a great-grandson of the 1st Duke of Marlborough. Previously, he had been created Viscount Spencer, of Althorp in the County of Northampton, and Baron Spencer of Althorp, of Althorp in the County of Northampton, on 3 April 1761.

The future 6th Earl Spencer was created Viscount Althorp, of Great Brington in the County of Northampton, on 19 December 1905 in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Diana, Princess of Wales, was the youngest of three daughters of the 8th Earl Spencer. William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, are grandsons of the 8th Earl Spencer.

Land holdings

The family seat is Althorp in Northamptonshire. It includes the civil parish of Althorp, in West Northamptonshire, of about 13,000 acres (5,300 ha). The family's estate includes significant land holdings in other parts of the country, including the village of North Creake in Norfolk. The family also owns Spencer House in St James's, London.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the family is as follows: Quarterly argent and gules, in the second and third quarters a fret or, over all on a bend sable, three escallops of the first. The crest, emerging from the coronet, is a griffin's head argent, gorged with a bar gemelle gules between two wings expanded of the second. The supporters are: Dexter, a griffin per fess ermine and erminois, gorged with a collar sable, the edges flory-counter-flory, and chained of the last, on the collar, three escallops argent; sinister, a wyvern erect on his tail ermine, collared and chained as the griffin. The motto is Dieu defend le droit (French: God protects the right).

Earls Spencer (1765)

• John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer (1734–1783)
• George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758–1834)
• John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782–1845)
• Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer (1798–1857)
• John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (1835–1910)
• Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer (1857–1922)
• Albert Edward John Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer (1892–1975)
• Edward John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer (1924–1992)
• Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer (b. 1964)

The heir apparent is the present holder's son Louis Frederick John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (b. 1994).

Family tree

This is a continuation of the Spencer/Spencer-Churchill family tree for the Althorp branch of the Spencers found in the Spencer family article.

Arms

Coat of arms of Earl Spencer

Coronet A Coronet of an Earl Crest Out of a Ducal Coronet Or a Griffin's Head Azure gorged with a Bar Gemelle Gules between two Wings expanded of the second Escutcheon Quarterly Argent and Gules, in the 2nd and 3rd quarters a Fret Or, over all on a Bend Sable three Escallops of the first Supporters Dexter: A Griffin per fess Ermine and Erminois gorged with a Collar Sable the edges flory-counterflory and chained of the last and on the Collar three Escallops Argent; Sinister: A Wyvern Erect on his tail Ermine similarly collared and chained Motto Dieu Defend Le Droit (God defends the right)

See also

• Spencer family
• Spencer Gulf
• Spencer (clothing)

Notes

1. Sources differ on the exact size of the estate, but most state 13,000 or 14,000 acres. The official website claims 13,000 acres, but Paprocki and others mention 14,000.

References

1. "No. 10562". The London Gazette. 5 October 1765. p. 1.
2. ^ Burke, John (1833). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. London: H. Colburn and R. Bentley. p. 466.
3. "No. 10092". The London Gazette. 4 April 1761. p. 1.
4. "No. 27868". The London Gazette. 29 December 1905. p. 9319.
5. "The Estate". Spencerofalthorp.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
6. Paprocki 2009, p. 31.
7. Townend, Peter (ed.). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (103rd ed.). Burke's Peerage Limited. p. 2282.
8. Kate Fleming, The Churchills, Viking Press, 1975
9. Herman, Eleanor (2005). Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge. Pushed into War, Sold into Marriage: William Morrow. p. 190. ISBN 0060585439.

Sources

• Paprocki, Sherry Beck (July 2009). Diana, Princess of Wales: Humanitarian. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60413-463-6.

Further reading

• Battiscombe, Georgina (1984) The Spencers of Althorp. London: Constable. ISBN 978-0-09-465700-7
• Spencer, Charles (1999) Althorp: the story of an English house. London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-312-20833-2
• Spencer, Charles (2000) The Spencers: a personal history of an English family. New York: St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-0-312-26649-3

External links

• Althorp – official website
• Cracroft's Peerage page
• The Heraldry of the Early Spencers
• Heraldry of the House of Spencer

v t e Extant earldoms in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
England	Shrewsbury Derby Huntingdon Pembroke Devon Lincoln Suffolk Montgomery Denbigh Westmorland Berkshire Lindsey Winchelsea Sandwich Essex Carlisle Shaftesbury Nottingham Abingdon Portland Scarbrough Albemarle Coventry Jersey
Scotland	Sutherland Crawford Mar Erroll Caithness Morton Rothes Buchan Eglinton Moray Mar Home Perth Strathmore and Kinghorne Kellie Haddington Galloway Lauderdale Lindsay Loudoun Kinnoull Elgin Wemyss Dalhousie Airlie Leven Dysart Selkirk Northesk Kincardine Balcarres Newburgh Dundee Annandale and Hartfell Dundonald Kintore Dunmore Melville Orkney March Seafield Stair Rosebery Glasgow
Great Britain	Ferrers Dartmouth Tankerville Aylesford Macclesfield Waldegrave Harrington Portsmouth Brooke Buckinghamshire Guilford Hardwicke Ilchester Warwick De La Warr Radnor Spencer Bathurst Clarendon Mansfield Talbot Mount Edgcumbe Fortescue Mansfield Carnarvon Cadogan Malmesbury
Ireland	Waterford Cork Westmeath Meath Desmond Cavan Orrery Drogheda Granard Darnley Bessborough Carrick Shannon Arran Courtown Mexborough Winterton Kingston Roden Lisburne Clanwilliam Antrim Longford Portarlington Mayo Annesley Enniskillen Erne Lucan Belmore Castle Stewart Caledon Donoughmore Limerick Clancarty Rosse Gosford Normanton Kilmorey Listowel Norbury Ranfurly
United Kingdom	Rosslyn Craven Onslow Romney Chichester Wilton Powis Nelson Grey Lonsdale Harrowby Harewood Minto Cathcart Verulam St Germans Morley Bradford Eldon Howe Stradbroke Temple of Stowe Cawdor Lichfield Durham Granville Effingham Ducie Yarborough Leicester Gainsborough Strafford Cottenham Cowley Winton Dudley Russell Cromartie Kimberley Wharncliffe Cairns Lytton Selborne Iddesleigh Cranbrook Cromer Plymouth Liverpool Midlothian St Aldwyn Beatty Haig Iveagh Balfour Oxford and Asquith Jellicoe Inchcape Peel Strathmore and Kinghorne Baldwin of Bewdley Halifax Gowrie Lloyd-George of Dwyfor Mountbatten of Burma Alexander of Tunis Swinton Attlee Woolton Snowdon Stockton
Italics: This title is held by a peer who holds another earldom of higher precedence.

• Earldoms in the Peerage of Great Britain
• Earls Spencer
• Noble titles created in 1765