EMOTIONALLY HARD TIMES
Diana was baptised at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, followed by early years filled with incredibly close relations with the Royals, which spanned generations. Both her grandmothers had served as ladies in waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, her father had been a royal equerry for King George VI and the young Queen Elizabeth II was the chief guest when Diana’s parents were married in 1954 at Westminster Abbey.
The marriage of Princess Diana’s grandparents, John the 7th Earl Spencer and Lady Cynthia Hamilton, meant that the Spencer family had a range of descendants from the royal house of Stewart/Stuart that ruled in Scotland from the late 14th century, and in all of Britain from 1603 to 1714. If these were to have been legitimate lines of descent, then indeed several of the ancestors in the SpencerHamilton lineage would have been senior in the line of succession to the Hanover/ Windsor family.
Growing up, Diana was fond of her siblings, and spent a vast amount of her days playing with them. She was the fourth child born to her parents with two older sisters, Sarah and Jane, although tragically an infant brother, John, had died a year before she was born. The family did welcome another baby boy a few years later though – Charles, who would become heir to the Spencer titles and estates, and Diana’s closest confidant.
Diana and brother Charles were inseparable, helping Diana through her torn, insecure childhood. Diana and her brother stayed with their mother at an apartment in London’s Knightsbridge, only staying with their father at Christmas. Her father refused their return to London and eventually sued Diana’s mother, winning full custody. The siblings learned to lean on one another a lot during these times of emotional hardship.