Charles Spencer

Charles Spencer was educated at Eton College and obtained his degree in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford. Since he was a boy the Battle of Blenheim has fascinated him - it was even his History O level special project - partly because of the Spencer-Churchill direct link to the engagement's prime victor, John, Duke of Marlborough. While in the middle of a seven year stint as a correspondent for NBC News in the United States, Charles Spencer inherited the ancestral home of Althorp, Northampton, which he has since restored and refurbished. He lives at Althorp and in West London with his wife, four children from his first marriage, and two stepsons. He achieved worldwide attention after speaking passionately at the funeral of his sister Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. His previous works are 'Althorp: the Story of an English House' (1998) and 'The Spencer Family' (1999).