Princess Diana's brother shares "immensely sad" personal news
Princess Diana's younger brother Charles Spencer has shared that he and his wife are divorcing after 13 years of marriage.
The Earl's relationship with his wife, Karen Gordon, reportedly broke down while Spencer was writing his harrowing memoir which detailed the physical and sexual abuse he suffered at boarding school.
Revealing the split to the Mail on Sunday, the 60-year-old said, "It is immensely sad."
"I just want to devote myself to all my children, and to my grandchildren, and I wish Karen every happiness in the future."
Spencer and Gordon, a Canadian philanthropist, first met on a blind date at a restaurant in Los Angeles in 2010, and got married just one year later in June 2011 on the Althorp estate, where Princess Diana is buried.
The couple share a 12-year-old daughter named Charlotte Diana, while Spencer also has four children from his previous marriage to his first wife, Victoria Lockwood, and two children with his second wife, Caroline Freud.
Karen was notably absent at events held at Althorp and Spencer House in London in mid-March to launch the Earl's tell-all book, A Very Private School.
Charles Spencer told the Mail on Sunday that the five years of work on his memoir has deeply affected him and led to him undergoing residential treatment for trauma late last year.
In a March interview with People, Spencer opened up about how “supportive” Karen had been throughout his healing journey as he recalled the traumatic details of his childhood.
“I think it was very challenging for her to have a husband going through what was essentially four and a half years of the most profound therapy with very difficult undertones to it. And she supported the idea of me doing it,” he said.
“I think she always hoped I would come out happier and healthier and that seems to be the case very much. So, I’m grateful to have her standing by me while I went through this, what I now realise was an essential process.”
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