Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes

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Jane, Baroness Fellowes

Born The Honourable Cynthia Jane Spencer
11 February 1957 (1957-02-11) (age 51)
Nationality British
Education West Heath Girls' School
Title Baroness Fellowes
Spouse Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes (1978-)
Children Laura Jane Fellowes (b. 1980)
Alexander Robert Fellowes (b.1983)
Eleanor Ruth Fellowes (b.1985)
Parents John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer (1924-1992)
Frances Burke Roche (1936-2004)
Relatives Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997)

Cynthia Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes (born 11 February 1957) is the second daughter of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer and the Honourable Frances Burke Roche, and the older sister of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Lady Fellowes was born The Honourable Cynthia Jane Spencer. Her title changed to The Lady Cynthia Jane Spencer in 1975, when her grandfather died and her father became the 8th Earl Spencer. She has always used her middle name of Jane (just as her elder sister also uses one of her middle names). One of Jane's godparents is Edward, Duke of Kent[1]. Like her sisters, Lady Fellowes was educated at West Heath boarding school near Sevenoaks in Kent. Sources say she was an excellent student, achieving the status of school Prefect and passing a good number of A-level exams. To paraphrase Andrew Morton, Lady Fellowes acquired a "hateful" of O-level and A-level exams[2]. Her successful exams suggest that she is the most academically gifted of the three sisters.

[edit] Personality

In contrast to her lively siblings, Jane is noted for being the quiet one of the four Spencer children. She has been described by close friends of Diana as "quiet and unassuming." Despite her reserved nature, she and elder sister, the more outspoken Lady Sarah McCorquodale are exceptionally close, especially given the situations that threw them together, the two eldest in the family. While they have both been described as indepedent from a young age, they have been co-dependent on each other since childhood.

[edit] Family

In March 1978, Jane married her distant relation Robert Fellowes (b. 1941), then assistant private secretary to the Queen.[3] During the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, Jane's sister Diana was a bridesmaid.

In June 1999, Robert Fellowes was granted a Life Peerage as Baron Fellowes, of Shotesham in the County of Norfolk, after first being knighted as Sir Robert Fellowes.[4]

Lord and Lady Fellowes have three children, who all bear the style of "The Honourable" since June 1999 as the children of a Life Peer:

  • The Honourable Laura Jane Fellowes (born 19 July 1980)
  • The Honourable Alexander Robert Fellowes (born 23 March 1983)
  • The Honourable Eleanor Ruth Fellowes (born 20 August 1985)

These children are first cousins of Prince William and Prince Harry on the maternal side, and according to some news reports, are close friends of their Royal cousins.

Lady Diana Spencer came up to Scotland in the summer of 1980 to help her sister with her newborn daughter Laura Jane, and during that time, was allegedly courted by the Prince of Wales.

[edit] Relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales

Lady Fellowes is the only member of Diana's family and friends who has never spoken to the media about her sister's death or indeed her life. After Diana's death, conflicting views about the two sisters' relationship have been voiced by different people. Diana's butler Paul Burrell stated that the relationship was strained because of Robert Fellowes's position as secretary to the Queen and that by the time of Diana's death they had not even spoken in a number of years. [5]On the other hand, Diana's childhood nanny, Mary Clarke, author of memoirs about the nanny's experience raising Diana and her siblings, stated that the relations between the Baroness and Diana were not as bitter as Burrell and others have said or assumed.[6]

It is not clear when their relationship deteriorated (if it did), but the sisters were neighbors on the Kensington Palace estate, with Diana living at Numbers 8 and 9, and Jane living at a house called the Old Barracks[7].

Both of Diana's older sisters and Prince Charles went to Paris with her former husband to escort the body back for the funeral. Many witnesses reported that Jane was very upset and needed to be assisted into a chair after seeing Diana's body at the hospital in Paris. Some pointed to this as her feeling of guilt over their relationship, while some have said it was just a natural reaction to the sadness of the moment.

Both of them played a part in the funeral ceremony. Since Diana's death, Lord and Lady Fellowes have led a largely private life along with their three children.

[edit] Quotes

"I'm afraid that's it, she's dead." according to a 1998 interview with brother Earl Spencer, when she broke the news to him Diana had died.

[edit] Ancestry

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.royalist.info/execute/biog?person=2389
  2. ^ Andrew Morton, Diana: Her True Story.
  3. ^ Yvonne Demoskoff, Royal Private Secretaries, Usenet group alt.talk.royalty, 22 March 2003.
  4. ^ House of Lords, Minutes and Order Paper - Minutes of Proceedings, 26 October 1999.
  5. ^ Paul Burrell, A Royal Duty, 2003.
  6. ^ Mary Clarke, Little Girl Lost: The Troubled Childhood of Princess Diana by the Woman who Raised Her.
  7. ^ Lady Colin Campbell, Diana in Private...

[edit] External links

  • Paul Theroff, Marlborough website, showing the descendants of the Spencer-Churchills and Spencers.
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Charles, Prince of Wales (husband) · Prince William (son) · Prince Harry (son) · John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer (father) · Frances Shand Kydd (mother) · Lady Sarah McCorquodale (sister) · Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes (sister) · John Spencer (brother) · Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer (brother)
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