Princess Diana (1961-1997) will be particularly missed on what would have been her 65th birthday (July 1st), not only by her sons Prince William (44) and Prince Harry (41). Her three siblings were also close to the late ex-wife of King Charles (77), who passed away in 1997.

Diana, who was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, grew up together with her two older sisters and her younger brother in Norfolk. In 1975, the family moved to Althorp, the ancestral seat of the Spencers in Northamptonshire. Lady Sarah McCorquodale (71) and Lady Jane Fellowes (69), as well as Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer (62), are said to have always had a close bond with Prince William and Prince Harry.

Diana's sisters keep away from the spotlight

Unlike their brother, Lady Sarah and Lady Jane have largely withdrawn from the public eye since their sister's tragic death. However, they attended Prince William and Princess Kate's (44) wedding in 2011, as well as Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's (44) wedding in 2018.

The Spencer sisters are also said to have been present at the christening celebrations of Harry and Meghan's children: The ceremony for Prince Archie took place in Windsor in 2019, Princess Lilibet's christening in Montecito in 2023.

Lady Sarah was romantically involved with Charles before Diana

Lady Sarah was born in 1955 as the daughter of John, the 8th Earl Spencer (1924-1992), and Frances Shand Kydd (1936-2004), and attended Riddlesworth Hall School in Norfolk and later the boarding school West Heath in Kent. After graduating, she worked in London and was briefly romantically involved with the then-Prince Charles. A fateful relationship: Lady Sarah is said to have been the one who introduced Charles to her younger sister Diana.

Lady Sarah herself married Neil McCorquodale (74) in 1980 and had three children with him - Emily (42), George (41), and Celia (37). The three have already made Lady Sarah a grandmother seven times over.

Lady Jane married a confidant of the Queen

Lady Jane Spencer was born in 1957. Like her sisters, she also attended the boarding school West Heath. In 1978, she married Robert Fellowes (1941-2024), who at the time served as Deputy Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022). In 1990, he became Principal Private Secretary to the monarch.

After Diana married Prince Charles in 1981, both Spencer sisters lived at Kensington Palace. Robert Fellowes was granted the title of life baron in 1999, making Jane Baroness Fellowes. The couple has three children together - Laura (45), Alexander (43), and Eleanor (40). Laura is one of the godparents of Princess Charlotte (11), the daughter of William and Kate. Lady Jane is also a grandmother multiple times over. Her husband passed away in 2024.

Charles Spencer takes care of the family estate

Charles Spencer is said to have had a particularly close relationship with his sister Diana from an early age. In his 2024 memoir "A Very Private School", Spencer described how he experienced violence and mistreatment as a child at Maidwell Hall, one of England's most prestigious boarding schools. He later attended Eton College and studied Modern History at Oxford.

Diana's brother is an author and journalist and has been taking care of the family estate Althorp since his father's death in 1992. On his social media accounts, he regularly posts news and pictures from the Spencer family estate. He also repeatedly remembers Princess Diana, for instance by sharing old pictures with his followers.

The next Spencer generation steps into the spotlight

With his first wife, British model Victoria Aitken (61), Charles Spencer has four children: Lady Kitty (35), twins Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia (33), and Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp (32). The 32-year-old works as an actor, while his sisters are successful as models and it-girls.

Lady Kitty also studied in South Africa, Italy, and England. She has been married to multimillionaire Michael Lewis (67) for five years. Since 2023, the two have been parents. Her sister Eliza also studied in South Africa and is known as a model and through society appearances. She has been engaged to businessman Channing Millerd for a year. Eliza is frequently seen with her twin sister Amelia on red carpets. Amelia, in turn, has been married to Greg Mallett since 2023, whom she met at university in Cape Town.

The parents of the four firstborn Spencer children divorced in 1997 after eight years of marriage. Charles Spencer married Caroline Freud (59) in 2001, with whom he has two more children - Edmund Spencer (22), who works as a DJ, and Lady Lara Spencer (20). Charles and Caroline separated in 2007 and later divorced. He married his third wife, Karen Gordon (54), with whom he has daughter Lady Charlotte Diana Spencer (13), in 2011. The separation followed in 2024. Since May 2026, he has been married to Cat Jarman (44).

"The Spencers are just as dysfunctional as the Windsors"

Charles Spencer gave a speech at Diana's funeral service at London's Westminster Abbey in 1997 that has gone down in history. "Time" magazine described him as "an influential executor of her spiritual will". But there were also comments that went in a different direction. Journalist and royal expert Anthony Holden stated at the time: "The Spencers are just as dysfunctional a family - if not more so - as the Windsors."

Indeed, there have been scandals among the Spencers as well. Charles Spencer caused a stir with his three failed marriages and his allegedly extremely poor relationship with his stepmother Raine Spencer (1921-2016). Shortly after his father John's death in 1992, he is said to have banished her from the family estate.

Diana's mother caused a scandal

The marriage of Princess Diana's parents also ended in scandal. However, the union reportedly began with the plan of an ambitious mother. Ruth Roche (1908-1993), lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother (1900-2002), wanted her daughter to marry the son of an earl. She arranged a meeting between Frances and John Spencer, and in 1954 the two married. The Spencer family has belonged to the English aristocracy for centuries with good connections to the royal household. Queen Elizabeth II was godmother to Charles Spencer.

However, before Charles, a male heir, was born, the marriage of Frances and John Spencer was burdened by a tragic event. A son born in 1960 died only a few hours after birth. The couple had reportedly never gotten over the loss. In 1967, Frances moved temporarily to Australia with Peter Shand Kydd (1925-2006), a businessman with whom she had begun an affair.

After their divorce in 1969, she married Kydd. Custody of the children went to John Spencer; even Frances' mother is said to have testified against her in court. When John Spencer married his second wife Raine in 1976, none of the children were invited. Reportedly, the four siblings disliked their father's new partner from the start.

Although the new generation of Spencers, with Kitty, Eliza, and Amelia, make headlines mainly through their glamorous appearances, there are also rumors of tensions here. The trigger: Father Charles Spencer was reportedly not present at his daughters Amelia and Kitty's weddings...