Princess Diana's stepmother Raine Spencer dies, aged 87

Raine Spencer, the stepmother of Princess Diana, has died after a short illness, aged 87, her family have said.

Countess Spencer, who was married to Diana's father Earl Spencer from 1976 until his death in 1992, died at her London home on Friday.

The death was confirmed by her son William Legge, the Earl of Dartmouth and a Ukip MEP.

The family said in a statement: "Raine, Countess Spencer, died peacefully at her home in London on 21st October, 2016, after a short illness."

She was born Raine McCorquodale, the only child of Army officer Alexander McCorquodale and romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.

In 1948, she married the Hon. Gerald Humphry Legge, who later became the 9th Earl of Dartmouth, with whom she had four children.

She had a long career in local government, with Westminster and Greater London councils and later divorced her husband shortly before marrying Earl Spencer.

It has been reported that Diana, who was 15 at the time of the marriage, and her brother Charles, did not always get on with their stepmother.

Earl Spencer, who was also known as Viscount Althorp, had separated from his wife Frances in 1969.

A year after Earl Spencer's death, Raine Spencer married for a third time, to Count Jean-Francois Pineton de Chambrun.

The marriage lasted two years and in the years afterwards, she reverted to her previous name Raine, Countess Spencer.

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