Editing Frances Shand Kydd

{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{short description|Mother of Diana, Princess of Wales (1936–2004)}}
{{Infobox noble
| honorific_prefix   = [[The Honourable]]
| name               = Frances Shand Kydd
| image              = FrancesShandKyddImage.jpg
| caption            = Shand Kydd in 2002
| birth_name         = Frances Ruth Roche
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1936|1|20|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Sandringham House|Sandringham]], [[Norfolk]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2004|6|3|1936|1|20|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Seil]], [[Argyll and Bute]], Scotland
| resting_place      = [[Pennyfuir Cemetery]], [[Oban]], Argyll and Bute, Scotland
| title              = [[Earl Spencer (peerage)|Viscountess Althorp]]
| spouse             = {{Ubl
  |{{Marriage|[[John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer|John Spencer, Viscount Althorp]]|1 June 1954|1969|end=div.}}
  |{{Marriage|[[Peter Shand Kydd]]|2 May 1969|1990|end=div.}}
}}
| issue              = {{Ubl
  |[[Lady Sarah McCorquodale]]
  |[[Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes]]
  |John Spencer
  |[[Diana, Princess of Wales]]
  |[[Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer]]
}}
| mother             = [[Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy|Ruth Sylvia Gill]]
| father             = [[Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy]]
}}
'''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]]. Following her divorce from [[John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer|Viscount Althorp]] in 1969, and [[Death of Diana, Princess of Wales|Diana's death]] in 1997, Shand Kydd devoted the final years of her life to Catholic charity work following her conversion to Catholicism.

==Early life==
She was born Frances Ruth Roche at [[Sandringham House#Park House|Park House]], on the royal estate at [[Sandringham House|Sandringham]], Norfolk, on 20 January 1936.<ref>England & Wales, Birth Index, Jan–Feb–Mar 1936, 4b 344, Freedbridge Lynn, Norfolk</ref><ref name="cor4june">{{cite news|last=Corby|first=Tom|date=4 June 2004|title=Frances Shand Kydd|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jun/04/guardianobituaries.monarchy|access-date=27 May 2013}}</ref> Her birth was on the same day as the death of [[George V]]. Her father was [[Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy]], a friend of [[George VI]] and the elder son of the American heiress [[Frances Ellen Work]] and her first husband, the [[James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy|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 The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]] (later the Queen Mother).<ref name="Telegraph obit">{{cite news|date=4 June 2004|title=Frances Shand Kydd|newspaper=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/1463546/Frances-Shand-Kydd.html|access-date=27 April 2011}}</ref> Since birth, she held the style of ''[[The Honourable]]'' as the daughter of a [[Baron Fermoy|baron]]. She was educated at [[Downham School]] in [[Essex]].<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Down Hall |url=https://www.downhall.co.uk/uploads/documents/GeneralDocuments/History_of_Down_Hall_-_updated.pdf |website=downhall.co.uk |access-date=5 February 2023}}</ref>

==Marriage and children==
On 1 June 1954, she married [[John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer|John Spencer, Viscount Althorp]] (later the 8th [[Earl Spencer (peerage)|Earl Spencer]]), at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name=cor4june/> [[Queen Elizabeth II]] and other members of the [[British Royal Family|royal family]] attended the wedding ceremony.<ref name="mgaz1june">{{cite news|date=1 June 1954|title=Queen heads lists guests at wedding|newspaper=The Montreal Gazetta|location=London|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PYEtAAAAIBAJ&pg=5838,281319&dq=frances+ruth+roche&hl=en|access-date=21 July 2013}}</ref> She was aged eighteen and became the youngest woman married in Westminster Abbey since 1893.<ref name=mgaz1june/>

They had five children:
* [[Lady Sarah McCorquodale]] (born 19 March 1955), who married Neil Edmund [[Clan McCorquodale|McCorquodale]], a second cousin once removed of her stepmother, [[Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer|Raine, Countess Spencer]].
* [[Jane Fellowes, Baroness 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 – [[Death of Diana, Princess of Wales|31 August 1997]]), first wife of [[Charles III]].
* [[Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer]] (born 20 May 1964), who married firstly [[Victoria Aitken|Victoria Lockwood]], secondly Caroline Freud (''née'' Hutton and former wife of [[Matthew Freud]]), and thirdly, [[Karen Spencer, Countess Spencer|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">{{cite web|url=https://www.insider.com/princess-diana-father-slap-her-mother-cnn-doc-2021-10|title=Princess Diana once witnessed her father 'slap' her mother during the royal's tumultuous childhood, CNN doc details|work=Insider|first=Rebecca|last=Cohen|date=8 October 2021|accessdate=9 January 2023}}</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==
[[File:Ardencaple House, Isle of Seil - geograph.org.uk - 385544.jpg|thumb|right|267px|Ardencaple House, [[Isle of Seil]], [[Scotland]]: country residence of Frances and her second husband, Peter Shand Kydd]]
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>{{cite book|last=Brown |first=Tina |author-link=Tina Brown |year=2007 |title=The Diana Chronicles |publisher=Doubleday |location=London; New York |isbn=978-0-385-51708-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/dianachronicles00brow_0|pages=40–41}}</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>{{cite web|title=Ardencaple House, Isle of Seil|url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/385544|access-date=19 July 2019|publisher=Geograph Britain and Ireland}}</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 Spencer, Countess Spencer|Raine, Countess of Dartmouth]], daughter of the novelist [[Dame Barbara Cartland]].<ref name="scotsman04">{{cite news|date=4 June 2004|title=Life of luxury stripped sparse by tragedy|newspaper=Scotsman|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/life-of-luxury-stripped-sparse-by-tragedy-1-535437|access-date=27 May 2013}}</ref> Although Frances lived a quiet life, she was forced into public view following the engagement of her daughter Diana to [[Prince Charles]] on 24 February 1981.<ref>{{cite news|date=21 June 1982|title=Princess Diana enters hospital in early labor|newspaper=Youngstown Vindicator|agency=AP|location=London|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MyBAAAAAIBAJ&pg=2686,2259663&dq=frances+ruth+roche&hl=en|access-date=21 July 2013}}</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">{{cite news |last1=Riddington |first1=Max |title=The truth about Di |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/the-truth-about-di-7231369.html |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[Evening Standard]] |agency=[[Daily Mail]] |date=13 April 2012 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="thefreelibrary/a0117653046">{{cite news |title=Lonely End of Diana's Sad Mum – a Life of Turmoil for the Mother of the World's Tragic Princess – Family absent as Shand Kydd dies |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/LONELY+END+OF+DIANA%27S+SAD+MUM%3B+A+LIFE+OF+TURMOIL+FOR+THE+M+MOTHER+OF...-a0117653046 |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=[[Daily Record (Scotland)]] |location=Glasgow, Scotland |via=[[Free Online Library]]}}</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>https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/the-truth-about-di-7231369.html</ref>

==Later years==
In 1996, she was banned from driving after being convicted of drunk driving,<ref>{{cite web|date=3 June 2004|title=Obituary: Frances Shand Kydd|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3642707.stm|access-date=29 May 2018|publisher=BBC}}</ref> but denied she had a problem with alcohol. She and Diana quarrelled in May 1997, after she told ''[[Hello! (magazine)|Hello!]]'' magazine that Diana was happy to lose her title of "Royal Highness" following her controversial divorce from Prince Charles. She was reportedly not on speaking terms with her daughter by the time of [[Death of Diana, Princess of Wales|Diana's death]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Milmo|first=Cahal|date=25 October 2002|title=Diana did not talk to me in final months, admits her mother|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/diana-did-not-talk-to-me-in-final-months-admits-her-mother-141065.html|access-date=24 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="far14jan">{{cite news|last=Farouky|first=Jumana|date=14 January 2008|title=Diana's Butler Tells Some Secrets|newspaper=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1703424,00.html|url-status=dead|access-date=30 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114034932/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1703424,00.html|archive-date=14 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=24 October 2002|title=Diana's 'rift' with mother|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2357735.stm|access-date=29 May 2018|publisher=BBC}}</ref>

She spent her later years in solitude on Seil.<ref name="her26oct">{{cite news|date=26 October 2002|title=Profile: Frances Shand Kydd|newspaper=The Herald|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-26489144_ITM|access-date=6 July 2013}}</ref> She became a [[Catholicism|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>{{cite web|date=25 October 2002|title=Burglars target Diana's mother|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/2360609.stm|access-date=29 May 2018|publisher=BBC}}</ref>

==Death and burial==
Frances died at her home in Scotland at the age of 68 on 3 June 2004, following a long illness that included [[Parkinson's disease]] and [[Brain tumor|brain cancer]].<ref name="hello">{{Cite news|title=Princess Diana's mother dies after a long illness|newspaper=HELLO! magazine|location=UK|url=http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2004/06/03/francesshandkydd/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=3 June 2004|title=Diana's mother dies 'peacefully'|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3774247.stm|access-date=29 May 2018|publisher=BBC}}</ref> Her funeral at [[St Columba's Cathedral]] in [[Oban]] on 10 June was attended by her children, sister and grandchildren, including princes [[William, Prince of Wales|William]] (who gave a reading) and [[Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex|Harry]].<ref name="mea4june">{{cite news|last=Meade|first=Geoff|date=4 June 2004|title=Princes mourning their grandmother|newspaper=The Journal|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Princes+mourning+their+grandmother.-a0117651940|access-date=31 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="per11jun">{{cite news|last1=Perry|first1=Simon|last2=Norman|first2=Pete|date=11 June 2004|title=Diana's Mum Laid to Rest, Without Charles|newspaper=People|url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,650151,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080320012337/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,650151,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 March 2008|access-date=1 June 2013}}</ref> Their father, her former son-in-law, Prince Charles, did not attend because he was travelling to Washington to represent the Royal Family at the [[Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan|state funeral of the former US President Ronald Reagan]] the following day. Frances was buried in [[Pennyfuir Cemetery]] in Oban, Argyll and Bute.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jun/11/monarchy.gerardseenan|title=Earl Spencer denies family rift|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=10 June 2004}}</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">{{cite book|last1=Riddington|first1=Max|title=Books|last2=Naden|first2=Gavan|year=2003|publisher=Michael O'Mara |isbn=1843170434}}</ref>

== Ancestry ==
{{Ahnentafel|collapsed=yes|align=center|ref=
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Frances Ruthe Roche'''
|2= 2. [[Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy]]
|3= 3. [[Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy|Ruth Sylvia Gill]]
|4= 4. [[James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy]]
|5= 5. [[Frances Ellen Work]]
|6= 6. [[William Smith Gill]]
|7= 7. Ruth Littlejohn
|8= 8. [[Edmond Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy]]
|9= 9. Elizabeth Caroline [[Boothby baronets|Boothby]]
|10= 10. Frank H. Work
|11= 11. Ellen Wood
|12= 12. Alexander Ogston Gill
|13= 13. Barbara Smith Marr
|14= 14. David Littlejohn
|15= 15. Jane Crombie
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060314144316/http://www.althorp.com/home/index.asp Althorp House]
* [https://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/seil-p235691/ Visit Scotland, Isle of Seil page]
{{Diana, Princess of Wales}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shandkydd, Frances}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:British courtesy viscountesses|Althorp]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism]]
[[Category:Daughters of barons]]
[[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in Scotland]]
[[Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:English people of American descent]]
[[Category:English people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:English people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Neurological disease deaths in Scotland]]
[[Category:Nobility from Argyll and Bute]]
[[Category:People from Sandringham, Norfolk]]
[[Category:Roche family|Frances]]
[[Category:Seil]]
[[Category:Spencer family|Frances Shand Kydd]]