They were married for 13 years but amid news they’re divorcing, Charles Spencer is taking a leaf out of his sister Princess Diana‘s split from King Charles. The Earl has seven children from three marriages, all of which have ended in divorce.
“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 said in a statement to the Daily Mail on June 8. The Times reported that news of the couple’s split was revealed back in April to staff at the Spencer’s Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire.
The Times also reported that Spencer was enlisting attorney Fiona Shackleton’s representation, the same lawyer hired by King Charles III amid his split from Princess Diana.
Why did Charles Spencer and Karen Gordon divorce?
While neither Charles nor Karen had addressed reasons for their split, the Daily Mail claimed their relationship began to fall apart as he was writing his memoir, A Very Private School
, in which he detailed losing his virginity to a sex worker at age 12 and the traumatic physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child in boarding school.
Spencer gained widespread public attention with his moving eulogy at Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, where he spoke passionately about his sister and criticized the media’s treatment of her. “There is no doubt that she was looking for a new direction in her life at this time. She talked endlessly of getting away from England, mainly because of the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers,” he said.
“I don’t think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to bring her down. It is baffling. My own and only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this—a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.”
