14 Facts About Spencer family

Spencer family is an aristocratic family in the United Kingdom.

Close relative of Henry Spencer was John Spencer, who in 1469 had become feoffee of Wormleighton in Warwickshire and a tenant at Althorp in Northamptonshire in 1486.

In 1508, Spencer family purchased the estate of Althorp with its moated house and several hundred acres of farmland.

Spencer family worked as a missionary and is a candidate for beatification.

Spencer family's older brother, who eventually became the 4th Earl Spencer, was a naval commander, courtier and Whig politician.

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Spencer family initially served in the Royal Navy and fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence, eventually rising to the rank of Vice-Admiral, and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1849.

Spencer family's son, the 5th Earl Spencer, who was known as the "Red Earl" because of his distinctive long red beard, was a close friend of prime minister William Ewart Gladstone.

Spencer family served twice as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1864.

Spencer family was succeeded in 1910 by his half-brother, the 6th Earl Spencer, who had been made Viscount Althorp, of Great Brington in the County of Northamptonshire, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, in 1905 and served as Lord Chamberlain from 1905 to 1912.

Spencer family became a Knight of the Garter in 1913, and was succeeded in the earldom and estates by his son, the 7th Earl Spencer, in 1922.

Spencer family married Frances Ruth Roche in 1954 and had a daughter, Diana, who married Prince Charles in 1981.

Family seat of the Earl Spencer is Althorp in Northamptonshire, their traditional burial place is the parish church of St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Brington.

The Spencer family estate includes significant land holdings in other parts of the country, including the village of North Creake in Norfolk.

Many members of the Spencer family have been knights or dames of the Order of the Garter.