John Spencer (brother of Diana?)

[Le Chat]

I have been researching my surname (Spencer) and was led onto a website that lists the family tree of Lady Diana. It lists her siblings as being:-

Elizabeth 1955    (Cynthia) Jane Spencer 1957            John Spencer 12th Jan 1960   Diana Spencer 1st July 1961    Charles Spencer 1964

I was not aware that she had 2 brothers! The are no other details about this John Spencer ... no children or wife listed. I remember Diana saying that she was "supposed to be born a boy."  Anyone clarify this?       

[mystress]

Hi there Le Chat,

Princess Diana's Father was rather obsessed with having a (Male) Heir,and after two Daughters a boy came along,but died after a short while(I can only find in most sites ~born/died 1960).So when Diana came along,her Father was (of course) expecting a boy to replace the deceased John.He was so convinced it WOULD be a boy this time,that when it was not,the marriage(that was already breaking down) was rocked to its core.Even though a boy did eventually come along,by then it was orobably too late to save the marriage.

I think this why Princess Diana said she was "supposed to be a boy" I think she was made to feel(by her Father mostly) that if she HAD been a boy that the marriage would not have broken up (not true) but what a burden to start out in life with!

I think this expalins quite a lot why her marraige to Charles failed too!

[Hgrove]

Diana's later mother often used to mention this son in interviews.  I had known about him for a while.  I have read somewhere that he was born "hideously deformed" and survived only a few hours.  The Earl blamed his wife for "producing only girls" and packed her off to Harley St. to have invasive gynecological tests to see why she was not producing a son and heir.. even though it was well known already that the sex of the baby depends on the father...  What a tragedy in my opinion.

[Octavius]

John died within 10 hours of his birth on January 12, 1960

Viscount Althrop (8th Earl) and  Frances Ruth Burke-Roche had five children:

Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia (March 15, 1955), who married Neil Edmund McCorquodale, a distant cousin of Raine, Countess Spencer
Cynthia Jane (February 11, 1957), who married Sir Robert Fellowes, later Baron Fellowes
John, who died within 10 hours of his birth on January 12, 1960
Diana Frances Spencer (1961-1997), first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer (May 20, 1964), who married Victoria Lockwood, then Caroline Freud (the latter formerly wife of Matthew Freud)

[mystress]

Octavius,

Thanks (from me) for that,it was driving me mad not knowing how old John Spencer was when he died (so sad).

[jasonspencer]

im a spencer , my family come for Aston birmingham in the 1800's
www.ancestry.co.uk is a very good place to search, ive gone back 200 years already

jason spencer

[mdog22]

John Spencer was born before Diana, but died as an infant. Diana's father had wanted the next child to be a boy to produce a male heir in the family, but instead Diana was born.

[netibiza]

Gosh poor Diana, no wonder she felt 2nd best all the time. Her father preferred another child, and her husband preferred another woman!