Does anyone have any information regarding Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd?
She was born The Honourable Frances Ruth Burke-Roche in Park House at Sandringham. Her father was Edmund, 4th Baron Fermoy, a friend of George VI. Her mother Ruth was a confidante and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. In 1954, aged 18,she married John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (12 years her senior) at Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were amongst those in attendance.
The Althorps had 5 children: Sarah, Jane, John (who died within 10 hrs of birth), Diana and Charles.
The media made comparisons between Lady Althorp's and Diana's lives, because both were inexperienced young women thrust into the spotlight by unhappy marriages to older men in higher stations. Diana resembled her mother in appearance and character, as well. "I've got what my mother's got. However bloody you're feeling you can put on the most amazing show of happiness. My mother is an expert on that," Diana was quoted as saying.
In 1967, Frances ran off with Peter Shand Kydd. Subsequently, she was named "the other woman" in Janet Shand Kydd's divorce action. The Althorps were divorced in 1969. The divorce was quite bitter & Frances was vilified and ultimately lost custody of her children. Diana later told Andrew Morton that "The biggest disruption was when Mummy decided to leg it. That's the vivid memory we have — the four of us (including her brother and two sisters). ... People took sides. Various people didn't speak to each other...it was a very wish-washy and painful experience."
Frances married Shand Kydd in 1969 and the couple lived on the remote Scottish island of Seil. Much against her wishes, she was forced into view following Diana's marriage. The Shand Kydds separated in June 1988 after he left his wife for a younger woman, and were later divorced. Frances blamed the media attention for the breakdown of the marriage. "The media descended here 16 years ago and have never left me since," Shand Kydd was quoted as saying in 1997. "I've now accepted they never will...I think the pressure of it all was overwhelming and finally impossible for Peter". Peter died in 2006.
In 1996 Shand Kydd was banned from driving after being convicted of drunk-driving, but denied she had a problem with alcohol. She and Diana quarrelled in May 1997 after she told Hello! magazine that Diana was happy to lose her title of "HRH" following her divorce. During the trial of Paul Burrell, Frances had to admit that they hadn't spoken in the months prior to her death and that her letters had been returned unopened.
She remained elegant and well groomed, but showed increasing evidence of the strains of her public role. As well as her rumored trouble with alcohol, she suffered a car accident and also the theft of jewellery from her home. There was further controversy when Frances and her daughter Sarah were accused of disregarding the Princess's wishes for her godchildren. The accusations made by Mohammed Al Fayed caused her a great deal of pain. With these troubles, she increasingly relied on her home & its close-knit community which helped her cope with her inner demons. Friends say this last phase gave her the most satisfaction and a degree of peace. As she became more frail her life became one of increasing solitude. She converted to Roman Catholicism and devoted herself to Catholic charities.
She died on 3 June 2004 following a long illness that included brain disease, Parkinson's disease, and brain cancer at the age of 68. Her funeral at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Oban was attended by many of her children and grandchildren, including Princes William (who gave a reading) and Harry. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, the Right Rev. Ian Murray, said Shand Kydd was a "deeply spiritual woman."
She managed to cause controversy from beyond the grave with the papers reporting on diaries and interviews that she supposedly left behind which revealed a great deal of bitterness except towards her grandsons. She described Harry as a "rascal" and said William would have to learn to adapt to dealing with the media." Charles, however, provoked her ire. "He acts like a spoiled brat! He's depressed? Good!" she said. She did concede that the Prince suffered over the death of his grandmother. She told the journalist: "He was distraught at Mountbatten's death and his grandmother's. It shows who really brought him up." In a different conversation, a year after her daughter's death, Mrs Shand Kydd reported that she had not heard from "the boys" - William and Harry. She said: "He [Prince Charles] thinks he can be both mother and father." Significantly, the diaries reveal that Mrs Shand Kydd did not subscribe to the conspiracy theory that Diana had been murdered. She said it was "crap". And she dismissed the contention that Diana did not get on with the Queen. Mrs Shand Kydd apparently said: "It's b***s to say the Queen and Diana did not get on. They had a lot of mutual respect and admiration."
