Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer

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.

The Right Honourable

The Countess Spencer

DCVO OBE
Lady Spencer in 1939
Born
Lady Cynthia Elinor Beatrix Hamilton

(1897-08-16)16 August 1897
London, England
Died4 December 1972(1972-12-04) (aged 75)
Althorp, Northamptonshire, England
Spouse(s)
Parents
FamilyHamilton (by birth)
Spencer (by marriage)

Life and family

She 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.

Cynthia Hamilton married Viscount Althorp on 26 February 1919 at St James's Church, Piccadilly, London.[1]

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.[6]

She was the grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Lady Spencer died at the Spencers' ancestral home, Althorp,[7] of a brain tumour, aged 75. She 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."[8]

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles
  • 16 August 1897 – 26 February 1919: Lady Cynthia Hamilton
  • 26 February 1919 – 26 September 1922: Viscountess Althorp
  • 26 September 1922 – 4 December 1972: The Right Honourable The Countess Spencer

Honours

Ancestry

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). 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). 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!. 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. Andrew Morton, Diana: Her True Story (BCA, 1992) p. 24.
  9. "No. 36035". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 4 June 1943. p. 2494.
  10. "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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