Princess Diana’s older sister, Jane, made headlines for her emotional reading of a Henry Van Dyke Jr. poem.
Since then, the loss of the “People’s Princess” has been at the heart of Jane’s work; she honored her late sister with a reading at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding.
And while she usually tries to stay out of the spotlight, the Baroness was front and center in the birth announcement of Meghan and Harry’s baby boy on May 6.
Born February 11, 1957, Cynthia Jane Spencer — she goes by her middle name — was born to Earl Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd.
She is one of the Spencer’s four children; the brood also includes eldest sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, and of course Diana, Princess of Wales.
Their father’s military career and dedication to politics introduced the children to high society life. After years of working with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II, he was appointed 8th Earl Spencer in 1975.
The children spent the formative years of their lives living apart from one another. All three Spencer sisters attended West Heath School, a boarding school in Kent.
Although they attended the same school, they rarely saw one another due to their different age groups.
Shortly after graduating, Lady Jane married Robert Fellowes, the assistant private secretary to the Queen. A then 16-year-old Diana was one of her bridesmaids. Soon after, Diana married Prince Charles and Lady Jane returned the favor.
Some say that Lady Jane and her husband helped push Diana and Charles’ relationship along by inviting the young couple to join them at the Balmoral, the royal’s Scottish holiday home, in the summer of 1980. It worked: One year later, Diana married Prince Charles.
Just like her sister, Jane kept busy as a mother and philanthropist. Her husband, on the other hand, worked his way up and eventually became Private Secretary to the Queen in 1990.
While working for the Queen, his family lived on the Kensington Palace grounds, which meant of course that Princess Diana and the boys were nearby. In 1999, he was given the title “Baron Fellowes” and took his seat in the House of Lords.
But Lady Jane’s association with the Queen became especially difficult once Princess Diana and Prince Charles divorced. Her husband’s line of work ultimately came first, which reportedly caused the sisters to not speak for 18 months.
Unlike their younger brother, the Spencer sisters have stayed out of the limelight since the car accident that took Diana’s life.
Sarah, who currently serves as the president of the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Fund, opened up about Diana’s death last summer, but Lady Jane hasn’t spoken publicly about Diana since the funeral over 20 years ago.
Instead, she’s been busy working for Only Connect (yes, the charity that Prince Harry’s involved with), an organization that focuses on decreasing youth crime. The first — and only — time we heard her speak since the funeral was in a 2013 article about the organization.
Despite their brief falling out after Diana’s divorce, Lady Jane continues to honor her sister at public memorial services and events.
And right now, she’s remembering her sister in the best way possible: by loving on Meghan and Harry’s baby boy.
