The Honourable Frances Ruth Roche (1936-2004) |
The Honourable Frances Ruth Roche 1
General Notes: English Nobility. The mother of Princess Diana Spencer, she was born Frances Ruth Burke Roche in Sandringham England and was the daughter of the Fourth Baron Fermoy. Her mother, Lady Ruth Fermoy, was a confidante and lady in waiting to the late Queen Mother. Shand Kydd married Edward John Spencer, 12 years her senior, in 1954 at Westminster Abbey. They had three daughters \emdash Diana was the youngest \emdash and two sons. The marriage foundered in 1967 when she fell in love with Peter Shand Kydd, a married wallpaper heir, and the couple divorced in 1969. Shand Kydd remarried in 1969 when the future princess was 6 years old. Shand-Kydd is survived by son, Charles, Earl Spencer and daughters Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McQuorquodale. Her stepson, Adam Shand Kydd, 49, died from an overdose of sleeping pills in Cambodia in April 2004. Frances married Edward John Spencer 8th Earl Spencer, son of Albert Edward John Spencer 7th Earl of Spencer and Cynthia Elinor Beatrix Hamilton Viscountess Althorp, on 1 Jun 1954 in Westminster Abbey, London, England. (Edward John Spencer 8th Earl Spencer was born on 24 Jan 1924 in Bayswater, Paddington, London, England and died on 29 Mar 1992 in St John's Wood, London, England.) |