The late Princess Diana’s brother claims the late royal’s notoriously tumultuous relationship with her stepmother exploded into a physical showdown when the beloved royal shoved her down a flight of stairs, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Charles Spencer claims in his new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, that the explosive incident unfolded in 1989 after Raine, Countess Spencer, cruelly told Diana she felt sorry for her then-husband, Prince Charles, for “marrying somebody quite as stupid as you.”
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Princess Diana and Her Three Siblings ‘Disliked’ Stepmom Raine ‘Intensely’
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Spencer explained in the book that Diana had grown up idolizing her father, Johnnie, viewing him as “some sort of a superhero,” until her adoration came crashing down in the summer of 1976, when she learned from a newspaper that he had secretly married Raine.
The 9th Earl Spencer wrote that he and his three sisters “disliked” Raine “intensely,” believing she was a “gold-digger” primarily interested in getting her hands on the aristocratic family’s ancestral Althorp estate and its contents “rather than truly loving the father we all adored.”
The siblings were so suspicious of Raine’s motives that Spencer claims they repeatedly warned their father about her.
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“The worst of Diana and Raine’s relationship took place long after childhood and tended to reach particularly low points around major family events,” Spencer explained in the book.
He claimed tensions finally came to a head eight years after Diana married then-Prince Charles, on the eve of Spencer’s 1989 wedding to his first wife, Victoria Lockwood.
“On the day before my first marriage, in 1989, everyone involved in the wedding rehearsal was invited back for tea at Althorp. But as my mother entered the house, she was approached by an embarrassed member of staff who whispered in her ear before leading her off to sit by herself,” Spencer revealed about Johnnie’s ex-wife and the siblings’ mother, Frances Shand Kydd.
Spencer claimed Diana was livid when she discovered her mother had been banished from the rest of the gathering.
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Raine Spencer Allegedly Showed Sympathy for Charles When Calling Diana ‘Stupid’
Raine Spencer allegedly told Princess Diana that she felt sorry for then-Prince Charles for marrying someone ‘as stupid as you.’
“When Diana discovered this, she confronted Raine with incredulity. ‘This is Charles’s mother, Raine,’ she said, ‘and she has to be included with the rest of us – not sent to a separate room like some naughty child! Do you really have no idea how to behave?'” he recalled of the princess’ blistering confrontation with her stepmother.
Raine initially fired back coldly: “Diana, you simply do not understand how much pain your mother has caused your father…”
But as the bombshell showdown between the two strong-willed women raged at the top of Althorp’s grand staircase, Spencer claimed his stepmother went for the jugular.
“I have always felt so very sorry for the Prince of Wales, marrying somebody quite as stupid as you,” Raine allegedly sneered at Diana.
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Princess Diana ‘Shoved’ Her Stepmom Down a Carpeted Staircase at Althorp
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Princess Diana allegedly got physical with her stepmom after being called ‘stupid.’
Spencer claimed Diana was momentarily stunned by the vicious insult before allegedly taking matters into her own hands.
“Diana paused for a second, surprised at the intensity of the spite. She then took a step forward, hooked a long leg round Raine’s calves before shoving her down the carpeted staircase,” he wrote.
Miraculously, Raine escaped serious injury, with Spencer noting, “Raine fortunately landed flush on her buttocks, rather than on bone, and got up, leaving the Saloon without a backward glance.”
With Raine gone, Diana immediately stepped into the hostess role and brought her mother back to join the rest of the wedding party for tea.
Spencer added, “Meanwhile, my father, never one for a scene, said nothing about the incident then or later.”