Summary
I t is a scenario that could have played out anywhere. The accomplished thirtysomething who falls for a handsome divorced man and settles down to married life and babies... only to wake up one day and find that the ardent lover who swept her off her feet just a handful of years before has fallen out of love - and will wage his battle to get her and their children out of their home for years afterwards. In the instance of Caroline Spencer - the well-heeled former wife of Earl Spencer who is engaged in a bitter divorce case with the late Princess Diana's brother - the humiliation has been very public. (Kitty Spencer, the earl's 18-year-old daughter from his first marriage, was quoted as saying she was glad her father was divorcing that 'awful woman' as she accompanied Papa to court. Charming behaviour from a teenage stepdaughter.) But there will be ex-wives everywhere feeling a sorry shiver of recognition at Caroline Spencer's predicament.
Back in 2001, when the earl wooed and married Caroline, he told the world, 'I've found somebody I respect and love and I feel deeply happy.' They settled into an enviable life, dividing time between their canalside home in London and the Althorp estate in Northamptonshire. After the birth of their son, Ned, Caroline declared herself ecstatic, telling one journalist that every day she feels 'blessed'. When asked about the earl's track record - his first marriage had ended amid accusations that he was a 'callous adulterer' - her reply is unequivocal. 'I can't think of anyone less callous,' she says. 'Strong, determined, all of those things. But never callous.' Words that must haunt her now. Just two years later, in September 2006, when their daughter, Lara, was four months old, Charles Spencer abruptly left, declaring he needed 'time and space'. He was soon involved in a very public relationship with an American broadcaster who had come to interview him months earlier. Two stone lighter, with shock etched on her face, Caroline retreated to the London home with the children, a home that became her refuge. But anyone expecting the earl to be conciliatory couldn't be more mistaken.See the full content of this document
Extract
Divorce or Destruction? [Eire Region]
Despite his estimated fortune of Pounds 115 million, he has fought fiercely to remove Caroline and the children from the property. It may make little financial sense, but as a friend of Caroline's has commented, 'This isn't about money. It's about Charles digging in his heels.' If Caroline Spencer is wondering what happened to the man she married - and how, in divorce, he could turn into someone quite so beyond her...
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