Charles Robert Spencer 6th Earl Spencer ¹

  General Notes:

Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer, KG, GCVO, PC, VRD was a British Liberal Party politician.

He was born in 1857 in the parish of St. James's, Westminster and was the son of the 4th Earl Spencer and his second wife Adelaide Beauchamp Seymour. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. On 23 July 1887, he married Margaret Baring the daughter of the 1st Baron Revelstoke at St James's Church, Piccadilly.

The couple had six children:
Lady Adelaide Margaret Delia Spencer (1889\endash 1981)
Albert Edward John Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer (1892\endash 1975), the grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Lt.-Cdr. Hon. Cecil Edward Robert Spencer RN DSC Croix de guerre (1894\endash 1928), died unmarried in a riding accident.
Lady Lavinia Emily Spencer (1899\endash 1955).
Captain Hon. George Charles Spencer (1903\endash 1982).
Lady (Alexandra) Margaret Elizabeth Spencer (1906\endash 1996) She was the author of "A Spencer Childhood", published in 1994.

Spencer represented the constituency of North Northamptonshire from 1880 to 1885 and Mid Northamptonshire from 1885 to 1895 and again from 1900 to 1905. He was a Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria between February and June 1886, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 1892 to 1895 and a Privy Councilor from 1892. On 19 December 1905, he was created 1st Viscount Althorp which allowed him to become Lord Chamberlain (his older brother was still Earl Spencer at that time). From 1908 he was Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire.

On 13 August 1910, he became the 6th Earl Spencer.

He died at his home in St James Place, London.

He held a large number of foreign decorations: the Grand Cross of Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark, Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav, Order of the Polar Star of Sweden, Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, the White Eagle of Serbia, Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia, Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III and Order of Philippe le Bon of France. He was also an honorary major and later honorary colonel of the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment.

Styles
1857\endash 1880: The Hon. Charles Spencer
1880\endash 1892: The Hon. Charles Spencer, MP
1892\endash 1895: The Rt. Hon. Charles Spencer, MP
1895\endash 1900: The Rt. Hon. Charles Spencer
1900\endash 1905: The Rt. Hon. Charles Spencer, MP
1905\endash 1910: The Rt. Hon. Viscount Althorp, PC
1910\endash 1922: The Rt. Hon. The Earl Spencer, PC

Article in the "Northampton Chronicle & Echo" 1922.

"A Crystal on a Cross
The devotion of the late Earl Spencer (Charles Robert, the 6th Earl) to his late wife (Margaret, Viscountess Althorp) was as everyone who knew him realised, a very beautiful and touching thing. He rarely made a speech in Northampton without referring to his "happy Dallington days" and to the gracious lady on whom their happiness depended. Upon the cross, which marked her resting place, and which now rises above them both, he placed a many faceted crystal ball and every sunny day he spent at Althorp he would watch for the light that flashed like a message from his wife's grave to his house, a mile away. In various parts of the Park mounds were raised at his request that he might better see the light, and for miles around one could watch the sunlight reflected in brilliant flashes of light from the crystal. He will watch for the message no more, but one likes to think that he was happy to rest at last beside the wife he had loved so well and whose memory he had cherished so dearly for sixteen years."

Inscription:
MARGARET
VISCOUNTESS ALTHORP
BORN 14 DEC 1868
MARRIED 25 JULY 1887
ENTERED HER ETERNAL
REST 4 JULY 1906
ALIVE UNTO GOD THROUGH
JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD
6 ROMANS

AMAVIMUS AMABIMUS

ALSO HER HUSBAND
CHARLES ROBERT 6TH
EARL SPENCER
KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE
ORDER OF THE GARTER
BORN 30 OCT. 1857
DIED 26 SEPT. 1922

Charles married Margaret Baring. (Margaret Baring was born on 14 Dec 1868 in England, died on 4 Jul 1906 in St James, City of Westminster, Greater London, England and was buried in St Mary the Virgin with St John Churchyard, Great Brington, Daventry District, Northamptonshire, England.)