The Gist
Princess Diana's mother Frances Shand Kydd would have turned 90 years old on January 20.
To commemorate the occasion, Diana's brother Earl Charles Spencer shared a never-before-seen photo of Frances, and her resemblance to Diana is uncanny.
Like Diana, Frances died far too young at just 68 years old in 2004.
Princess Diana's younger brother EarlCharles Spencershared a photo of his late mother,Frances Shand Kydd, to mark what would have been her 90th birthday on January 20—and it's impossible to ignore the resemblance between Frances and Diana.
Much like her daughter—who died at 36 in a 1997 car accident—Frances also died too young, she at age 68 in 2004 following a long illness. Though Frances's relationship with her four surviving children was often strained, in his emotional post on Tuesday, Charles wrote of "all the joy" his mother brought to the world beside a black-and-white photo of her wearing a headscarf and a striped top. The photo was taken by Diana and Charles's father, Johnnie Spencer, who Frances divorced in 1967.
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Charles described his mother in the photo as "young and happy" and "looking glamorous in a very understated way." He remarked that Frances "died far too young," adding that, just like at Diana's funeral seven years prior, "I gave the eulogy at her funeral—recalling all the joy she brought and gave; as well as reflecting on the terrible ordeal she had to endure, burying two of her children." He referred to Diana but also his brother John, who died in infancy in 1960, the year before Diana was born.
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Charles often shares never-before-seen photos of his family, like in 2024, when he shared a black-and-white photo of himself and Diana with Frances, smiling together with Charles on a swing as Frances held onto him from behind. The photo was taken circa 1967, Charles wrote alongside it, the same year that Frances would divorce her husband. "I love how happy each of us looks," Charles wrote of the photo.
Describing how her marriage to Johnnie fell apart, Frances later said that she and her former husband "just drifted apart, and there was nothing either of us could do about it," perThe Telegraph. Frances met the man who would become her second husband, Peter Shand Kydd, at a dinner party in 1966, commenting on their meeting—while both were still married to other people—that "It wasn't love at first sight, but I do remember we made each other laugh." There was a "strong attraction" between them, she continued, adding, "If Johnnie and I had had a strong marriage, it wouldn't have happened."
In 1967, Frances left the Spencer family home, Althorp, and went to live in London with Diana and Charles (her older two children, Sarah and Jane, were at boarding school). But when Diana and Charles went to Althorp for Christmas, Johnnie refused to let them return to London. Afterwards, Frances was labeled a "bolter," and lost custody of her children in 1968. Frances married Peter the next year, in 1969. Charles later toldThe Sunday Timesthat as Frances "was packing her stuff to leave, she promised Diana she'd come back to see her."
"Diana used to wait on the doorstep for her, but she never came," adding that Johnnie "was a quiet, constant source of love, but our mother wasn't cut out for maternity—she couldn't do it. She was in love with someone else—infatuated, really."
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Frances and Peter ultimately divorced in 1988, and Frances blamed Diana and her family in part for the breakup of her second marriage, as "Peter allegedly felt overshadowed by his more famous wife after Diana skyrocketed the popularity of the Spencers" following her 1981 royal wedding toPrince Charles, according toThe Daily Mail.
InThe Guardian's obituary for Frances, the outlet quoted her as saying, "I think the pressure of it all was overwhelming and, finally, impossible for Peter. They didn't want him. They wanted me. I became Diana's mum, and not his wife."
Dianawould later tell her biographer Andrew Mortonthat she felt "let down terribly" by her mother on her wedding day, when Frances told her "she couldn't cope with the pressure."
"She kept crying and being all valiant and saying that she couldn't cope with the pressure—I tended to think I was the one under pressure because I was the bride," Diana told Morton.As Frances once said in 1997—the same year Diana died—"The media descended here 16 years ago and have never left me since. I've now accepted they never will."
When Diana died, she and her mother were not on speaking terms after Frances spoke about her daughter losing her Her Royal Highness title in her 1996 divorce as something that was "absolutely wonderful" in an interview. Yet, before their fallout, Diana praised Frances, saying, "I've got what my mother has got. However bloody you are feeling, you can put on the most amazing show of happiness. My mother is an expert at that, and I've picked it up. It kept the wolves from the door."
At Diana's funeral, though they weren't on speaking terms, Frances recalled of Diana, "I felt so proud of her." She was also proud "of my daughters [Sarah and Jane] who were rock steady in their readings, and of my son [Charles], who gave the ultimate tribute of brotherly love and expressed the thoughts of the family and the people who loved her."
When Frances died in 2004, Diana's sonsPrince WilliamandPrince Harrywere"very upset"by her death, according to their father's office at Clarence House. Her small funeral was attended by both boys, and William gave a reading at it—a touching gesture that, despite the falling out between Frances and Diana, spoke volumes.
Read the original article onInStyle
