Frances was born in Norfolk in 1936, her birth exactly coinciding with the death of King George V, in the “Big House” at Sandringham. In a stalwart moment, Queen Mary deflected her own grief by sending an enquiry about Ruth Fermoy’s baby, born that day. This story was told to Queen Mary’s biographer, James Pope-Hennessy, as a “signal instance of Queen Mary’s self-control and consideration for others”. The teller was Captain Sir William Fellowes, the Land Agent at Sandringham, whose son Robert was to marry Diana’s sister, Lady Jane Spencer, and to become the Queen’s Private Secretary. The links appeared close and the omens good.In 1954 Frances married the then Viscount Althorp in Westminster Abbey.
Two daughters, Sarah and Jane, were born and then a son, John, who died the same day, in January 1960. One of these was Ruth Lady Fermoy, widow of the fourth Lord Fermoy and the mother of Diana’s mother Frances Roche. Frances Shand Kydd was the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the grandmother of Prince William and Prince Harry. She was thrust into unexpected prominence in the middle and later years of her life, being otherwise rather unknown to the general public.In the early 1920s it was made clear to George V that there must be a revised attitude to marriages into the Royal Family. Following the First World War, the idea of princesses from foreign houses was less attractive as a prospect and, of course, the idea of a German princess unacceptable. This paved the way for the marriage of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon to the Duke of York (who was to become King George VI).
This marriage was supremely successful, and the satisfactory dilution of royal blood with richly aristocratic stock appealed to those who felt that there had been too many cousinly unions.The wedding of the present Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer appeared to fulfil the same demands. The Spencers were a long-established aristocratic family and the genealogists were able to trace descent from various Stuart kings. In a sense the theory was good, if the reality less so.It was also noted that both the bride’s grandmothers and four of her great-aunts had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth. Frances Ruth Burke Roche: born 20 January 1936; married 1954 Viscount Althorp (succeeded 1975 as eighth Earl Spencer, died 1992; one son, two daughters, and one son and one daughter deceased; marriage dissolved 1969), 1969 Peter Shand Kydd (marriage dissolved 1990); died Seil, Argyllshire 3 June 2004.
