Mother Lady Rosalind Bingham Name Cynthia Countess | Children John Spencer | |
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Born 16 August 1897 ( 1897-08-16 ) Parents James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, Rosalind Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn Similar People Diana - Princess of Wales, John Spencer, Albert Spencer - 7th Earl S, Charles Spencer, Charles Spencer - 6th Earl S | ||
Cynthia Ellinor Beatrix Spencer, Countess Spencer (née Hamilton; 16 August 1897 – 4 December 1972) was a British peeress and the paternal grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.
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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, 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."