The royals - Kitty Kelley [208]
The Earl, who was devoted to his second wife, railed against his children for denigrating their stepmother’s efforts to make Althorp profitable. He bitterly singled out Diana.
“I have given Diana a hell of a lot of money—between $750,000 and $1.5 million—to invest for Harry,” he said, and disclosed Diana’s concern about her second son’s future. Her firstborn, William, destined to become Prince of Wales and eventually King, was guaranteed immense wealth. But not Harry.
“Diana doesn’t understand about money,” said her father. “She has no experience. She is too young.” He accused all his children of “financial immaturity,” said they were spoiled and “ungrateful,” and said they did not realize what was involved in running a grand estate.* Soon the children stopped visiting Althorp and stopped speaking to their father.
Minutes after Diana learned of his death on Sunday, March 29, 1992, her lady-in-waiting dashed to the luggage room of the Swiss ski resort and removed the black dress, black shoes, and black hat that were customarily packed for royalty in case of death. Diana wanted to return home alone, but her husband insisted on accompanying her. She dug in. “It’s too late for you to start pretending now,” she snapped. He knew how unacceptable it would be for her to return by herself. But she was adamant that he remain with the children, skiing. She resented his using her father’s death to look like a loving husband.
The Prince’s private secretary recognized the couple’s impasse and called the Queen’s private secretary. Only when Her Majesty interceded and called Diana did the Princess agree to return with her husband. The next day she got off the plane, looking red-eyed and stricken with grief.
“There was such dissension surrounding that funeral,” said a relative, who ruefully recalled the misleading headline in the Times: “Earl Spencer Goes to Rest at Peace with His Family.” In truth the family’s antipathies had followed the late Earl to his grave. Johnny Spencer’s bitter relationship with his father had forced Johnny to move off the family estate. He did not return until his father died. Johnny then repeated the acrimonious behavior in his relationship with his son, Charles, who was estranged from him at the time of his death.
The Spencer children accepted such acrimony as part of their life. They had grown up watching their father reject his father and their mother reject her mother. The children had seen nasty fights between their parents, which did not end with the divorce. Although both parents remarried, they continued to compete for the children’s attention and affection by showering them with expensive gifts. “It makes you very materialistic,” their son admitted later.
In his eulogy for the Earl Spencer, Lord St. John of Fawsley tried to make light of the family’s discord. “Birds twitter and peck in their nests,” he said, “even when they are gilded ones.” He assured the congregation in a little country church in the county of Northamptonshire that the Earl Spencer had loved all his family, especially the Princess of Wales.
Diana’s floral wreath to her father was prominently displayed in front of his oak coffin with a card she had inscribed personally: “I miss you dreadfully, Darling Daddy, but will love you forever… Diana.” Behind the coffin and barely noticeable was a tribute of flowers from the Prince of Wales, “In most affectionate memory.”
In front of the press, the four Spencer children appeared cordial to their stepmother, with Diana reaching sympathetically for her arm at one point. “The sight [of that gesture]… made me feel quite sick,” said Sue Ingram, who had worked for Raine Spencer for seventeen years. The assistant, who was fired by the new