Call me the Countess of Glamour...
Lady of the manor tells how she’s putting the pizzazz into Diana’s ancestral home
POSING in jodhpurs and boots, she is the latest Chatelaine at Princess Diana’s childhood home.
And Countess Spencer says she is proud to have transformed the Althorp Estate, turning its English country house weekends into something ‘a bit more glam’.
The Canadian-born former hotel receptionist, wife of Diana’s brother Earl Spencer, has overseen a major renovation of the 511-year-old ancestral seat.
As well as tasteful horticultural improvements to the island garden where the princess was laid to rest, she has had ensuite bathrooms installed in the guest rooms of the house.
Now she is showing off the fruits of her labour – the Countess says she puts in a 60hour week – in the glossy pages of Town & Country magazine’s summer edition, published tomorrow.
She tells the magazine that Althorp is ‘a house to be lived in, not a museum’, saying: ‘My favourite thing about life here is the English country house weekend, which is a completely foreign concept to those of us from North America.
‘When I moved in, I made them a bit more glam: we switched dinner on Saturday nights to black tie, because everyone wants to dress up – the venue demands it. Plus, it’s a great excuse for me to wear the Spencer jewellery.’
That jewellery includes a diamond necklace given by Queen Anne to the Duchess of Marlborough, a relationship portrayed by Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz in Oscarwinning film The Favourite.
Lady Spencer, 46, has done ‘ some major feng shui’ on Althorp, which has been home to 19 generations of Spencers. She said: ‘The portraits on the walls and the furniture around me are a constant reminder that I am a tiny part of a very big lineage. I hope that I can make a small contribution to the continuation of that legacy.’
Earl Spencer, 54, is said to be in thrall to her organisational skills and, according to insiders, she keeps staff at the 13,000-acre Northamptonshire estate on their toes.
It is a long way from her modest upbringing. Born Karen Villeneuve in 1972, she grew up in the unglamorous Alberta oil city of Edmonton, where she dropped out of college and worked for a time as a catalogue model.
She was manning the front desk of the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto when she met her first husband, Mark Gordon, a US film producer whose credits include Saving Private Ryan.
Their six-year marriage ended in 2003 and she secured a $2million divorce settlement. The couple have two daughters, Emma, 21, and Katie, 18. She The magazine’s latest issue met Earl Spencer – who has six children from his previous marriages – on a blind date at a cocktail party in 2010, and they wed at Althorp ten months later in June 2011. They have a daughter, Charlotte, six. Lady Spencer, who runs a children’s charity, said she wanted to be an example to her daughters, saying: ‘Being passionate about what you do is a blessing and a curse. I work 60 hours a week, but I tend to start early before Charlotte’s up – that buys me a little more time so that I can be more present after school.’
One reason for the renovations was to be able to rent out Althorp House to help raise money for her charity.
The estate’s website boasts the house and grounds provide ‘the setting for events that are by turn prestigious, polished and hugely enjoyed’.
Prices were previously said to be £19,000 for a weekend stay for one couple. The summer issue of Town & Country is on sale tomorrow.
'I am tiny part of a very big lineage’