View source for Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer

{{Short description|British countess (1897–1972)}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Countess Spencer
| honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DCVO|OBE}}
| image            = Cynthia, Countess Spencer.jpg
| caption          = Spencer in 1939
| birth_name       = Lady Cynthia Elinor Beatrix Hamilton
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=yes|1897|8|16}}
| birth_place      = [[London]], England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|1972|12|4|1897|8|16}}
| death_place      = [[Althorp, Northamptonshire]], England
| family           = [[Duke of Abercorn|Hamilton]] (by birth) <br> [[Spencer family|Spencer]] (by marriage)
| spouse           = {{marriage|[[Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer]]|1919}}
| children         = Lady Anne Wake-Walker<br />[[John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer]]
| father           = [[James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn]]
| mother           = [[Lady Rosalind Bingham]]
}}
'''Cynthia Ellinor Beatrix Spencer, Countess Spencer''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DCVO|OBE}} (''née'' '''Hamilton'''; 16 August 1897 – 4 December 1972) was a [[Peerage of Great Britain|British peeress]] and the paternal grandmother of [[Diana, Princess of Wales]].
==Life and family==
Cynthia Hamilton was the daughter of [[James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn|James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton]], later 3rd [[Duke of Abercorn]] (30 November 1869 – 12 September 1953) and [[Rosalind Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn|Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham]] (26 February 1869 – 18 January 1958). Her maternal grandparents were [[Charles Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan]], and Lady Cecilia Catherine Gordon-Lennox, a daughter of [[Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond]], and Lady Caroline Paget.
Hamilton married [[Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer|Viscount Althorp]] on 26 February 1919 at [[St James's Church, Piccadilly]], London.<ref>Williamson, D. ''The Ancestry of Lady Diana Spencer'' In: ''Genealogist's Magazine'', 1981; Vol. 20 (#6) pp. 192–199, and Vol. 20 (#8) pp. 281–82</ref>
They had two children:
* [[Lady Anne Wake-Walker|Lady Anne Spencer]] (4 August 1920 – 24 February 2020).<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/239786/wake-walker|title=Wake-Walker (death announcement)|work=Telegraphannouncements (The Daily Telegraph)|access-date=6 April 2020|archive-date=10 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010142956/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/239786/wake-walker|url-status=dead}}</ref>  In February 1944 she, an officer in the [[Women's Royal Naval Service]],<ref>{{Cite news|last=Russell|first=Steve|url=https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/obituary-suffolk-s-lady-anne-wake-walker-99-1-6553911|title=How Princess Diana's aunt had to flee Nazi-inspired riots|date=10 March 2020|work=Ipswich Star (Suffolk, UK)|access-date=6 April 2020|archive-date=30 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030170416/https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/obituary-suffolk-s-lady-anne-wake-walker-99-1-6553911|url-status=dead}}</ref> married Christopher Baldwin Hughes Wake-Walker, a Captain in the [[Royal Navy]], at Westminster Abbey.<ref>{{Cite book|last=de Courcy|first=Anne|title=Debs At War 1939-1945: How Wartime Changed Their Lives|publisher=Phoenix (Orion Books, Ltd.)|year=2005|location=London|pages=194}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Cichowski|first=Heather|url=https://ca.hellomagazine.com/royalty/02020022655358/princess-dianas-aunt-lady-anne-wake-walker-dies-age-99|title=Princess Diana's aunt, Lady Anne Wake-Walker, has died at age 99-and-a-half|date=26 February 2020|work=Hello!|access-date=6 April 2020|archive-date=16 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416082313/https://ca.hellomagazine.com/royalty/02020022655358/princess-dianas-aunt-lady-anne-wake-walker-dies-age-99|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Edward John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer]] (24 January 1924 – 29 March 1992).
Countess Spencer was appointed a [[Lady of the Bedchamber]] to [[Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon|Queen Elizabeth]] in 1937. She continued in the role after Elizabeth became [[Queen Mother]] in 1952, and remained in post until her death.<ref>Mosley, C. (ed.) ''Burke's Peerage & Baronetage'', 106th edition (Burke's Peerage, Crans, Switzerland, 1999) vol. 2, pg. 2673</ref>
She was the grandmother of [[Diana, Princess of Wales]]. Lady Spencer died at the Spencers' ancestral home, [[Althorp]],<ref>''The Times (London)'', Wednesday, 6 December 1972; p. 32, col. A</ref> of a brain tumour on 4 December 1972, aged 75. The Cynthia Spencer Hospice in Northampton is named in her memory.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.cynthiaspencer.org.uk/why-support-us/history/ |website=Cynthia Spencer Hospice |access-date=3 September 2021}}</ref>
Countess Spencer was little known outside court and local circles until, twenty years after her death, [[Andrew Morton (writer)|Andrew Morton]] wrote that the Princess of Wales "believes that her grandmother looks after her in the spirit world."<ref>Andrew Morton, ''Diana: Her True Story'' (BCA, 1992) p. 24.<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>
==Honours==
* [[File:Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon.png|45px]] 4 June 1943: Officer of the Most Excellent [[Order of the British Empire]] (OBE)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue= 36035|supp=3|date=4 June 1943|page=2494}}</ref>
* [[File:UK Royal Victorian Order ribbon.svg|45px]] 1 June 1953: Dame Commander of the [[Royal Victorian Order]] (DCVO)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39863|supp=1|date=1 June 1953|page=2946}}</ref>
==Notes and sources==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* [[G. E. Cokayne]]; with Vicary Gibbs, H. A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant'', new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), vol. XIII, p.&nbsp;39.
* Charles Mosley, ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition'', (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd., 1999), vol. I p.&nbsp;6 and vol. 2 p.&nbsp;2673
* C. F. J. Hankinson, editor, ''Debretts Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, 147th year'' (London: Odhams Press, 1949), p.&nbsp;1007.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Cynthia Spencer, Countess}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in England]]
[[Category:British countesses]]
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Daughters of British dukes]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Spencer family|Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer]]
[[Category:Ladies of the Bedchamber]]