Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer


Cynthia Ellinor Beatrix Spencer, Countess Spencer was a British peeress and the paternal grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Life and family

She was the daughter of James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton, later 3rd Duke of Abercorn and Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham. 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.
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, 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."

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles