| Victoria Aitken | |
|---|---|
| Born | Catherine Victoria Lockwood 1965 (age 46–47) |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Victoria Spencer |
| Occupation | Model |
| Spouse | Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer (m. 1989, div. 1997) Jonathan Aitken (m. 2005, div. 2009) |
| Children | Lady Kitty Spencer Lady Eliza Spencer Lady Amelia Spencer Viscount Althorp Samuel Aitken |
Victoria Aitken,[1] née Lockwood (born 1965) is a British former fashion model and the first wife of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.
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She was born Catherine Victoria Lockwood in 1965 and worked as a fashion model.
Victoria Lockwood married Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp in 1989. The pair had known each other for six weeks prior to becoming engaged.[2] The wedding, conducted by Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, was an elaborate affair, with Lord Althorp's nephew Prince Harry of Wales as a pageboy.[3] Lord Althorp succeeded his father as Earl Spencer in 1992, at which point Victoria became Countess Spencer. They have four children:
She suffered from eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse during her marriage. The couple moved with their four children to South Africa in 1995 to avoid the media.[4] The marriage fell apart after of string of revelations of affairs by Earl Spencer and ended in divorce in 1997.[2] The divorce proceedings were conducted in South African courts,[2] where Victoria was granted a £1.8 million settlement.[4]
Spencer returned to take charge of the family's Althorp estate, while Victoria remained and raised the children in the wealthy Cape Town suburb of Constantia.[5]
After the breakup, Victoria had a four-year relationship with pharmacist Guy Wood, which ended in 2002.[2] Her battle with addiction continued well after the marriage, and she attended weekly recovery meetings to prevent relapses.[2] She also worked as a part-time counsellor in a Cape Town drug and alcohol recovery clinic.[6]
She then began a relationship with ex-model Jonathan Aitken, which resulted in the birth of her fifth child, Samuel in 2003.[7] She reportedly credited Aitken, a former addict himself, with helping to get her own life back on track.[8] They married in 2005.[1][6]
Jonathan Aitken relapsed into addiction in 2009,[8] and the couple split.[1][9] Following the end of her second marriage, Victoria began a relationship with James Clinch, a British former lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, of the Queen's Regiment.[1] Aitken claimed Victoria's involvement with Clinch had led to the breakup of their marriage. Clinch accused Aitken of threatening to kill him, and applied for a restraining order. In return, Aitken launched a £250,000 damages claim against Clinch for breaking up his marriage.[9]
Victoria's relationship with Clinch is reportedly over.[5]