| Raine de Chambrun |
| Born |
September 9, 1929 (1929-09-09) (age 79)
|
| Spouse(s) |
1.Gerald Legge m.1947 div.1976
2.Edward Spencer m.1976 d.1992
3.Jean-François Pineton de Chambrun m.1993 div.1995 |
| Parents |
Alexander McCorquodale
Barbara Cartland |
Raine de Chambrun (b. Raine McCorquodale on 9 September 1929) is a British socialite and politician, best known for having been Diana, Princess of Wales's stepmother and Barbara Cartland's daughter.
Through her three marriages, she has variously been known by various different titles:
- The Honourable Mrs Gerald Legge; Raine Viscountess Lewisham; Raine, the Countess of Dartmouth
- Raine, the Countess of Spencer; and upon the death of the earl, Raine, the (dowager) Countess Spencer;
- Comtesse Jean-François de Chambrun; and upon their divorce, Raine de Chambrun or (restored) Raine, the Countess Spencer
Soon after her divorce from her third husband, she reverted to the title to which she is usually referred in the media, Raine, Countess Spencer (see discussion below,) possibly to retain a connection with Diana, Princess of Wales but more likely because Raine and the Earl Spencer had had a very happy marriage.
Biography
Raine McCorquodale was born as the only child of novelist Dame Barbara Cartland and her first husband, Alexander McCorquodale, an Army officer who was heir to a printing fortune.
Her first marriage, in 1947, was to the Hon. Gerald Humphry Legge, who succeeded to the courtesy title Viscount Lewisham and later became the 9th Earl of Dartmouth. They had four children:
During her first marriage, she served as a Conservative member of the Greater London Council, representing Richmond-upon-Thames. The Dartmouths were divorced in 1976.
Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, married secondly, at Caxton Hall, London, England, on 14 July, 1976, Edward Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer. Deeply unpopular with her stepchildren, who included Diana, Princess of Wales, she was ridiculed by them and other family members as "Acid Raine" and her time at Althorp, the Spencer family seat, — a period that saw the ancestral house operatically redecorated and numerous treasures sold — described as the "Raine of Terror". The Earl died in 1992, upon which event Diana and her brother allegedly put Raine's clothes into black rubbish bags and kicked them down the stairs, refusing to let her remove any furniture from the ancestral home without providing proof of purchase. The book also claims that on another occasion Diana herself pushed Raine down the stairs, after she and the Earl refused to acknowledge the Princess' mother, Frances Shand Kydd.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
Earl Spencer, it was said, was putty in his new wife's hands. Yet he was clearly precious putty, for when, in 1978, he suffered a brain hemorrhage, it was Raine, seemingly by sheer force of personality, who kept him alive. For weeks she stayed at his bedside "not just willing him, but ordering him to get better", as one relative later put it. She even hired a vicar to exorcise the ghost of Johnny's father. For the next 14 years, until Johnny's death in 1992, Raine patiently nursed him. Whatever she had done to Althorp, she couldn't be faulted for the care she afforded its owner. Diana couldn't help but be grateful.
Raine married thirdly, in 1993, Count Jean-François Pineton de Chambrun, a descendant of the Marquis de La Fayette and a member of a prominent French family related to the presidential Roosevelts, [1] after a courtship of 33 days. A younger son of Jean-Pierre Pineton de Chambrun, marquis de Chambrun (a deaf biochemist-artist) and a great-grandson of Ohio heiress Maria Longworth Storer Nichols (the founder of Rookwood Pottery), he was previously married to Josalee Douglas, an American debutante, a first cousin of Princess Margaret's intimate friend Sharman Douglas.
The Countess' titles
Raine and Jean-François de Chambrun divorced in 1995, and the Countess reverted to her previous style: Raine, Countess Spencer. There has been discussion among some upmarket journalists as to whether the Countess may continue with such a title, given her remarriage. The precise significance of the titles of aristocracy under the law is unclear at the moment but (unlike common law titles of Mr, Mrs etc) such titles are almost certainly legally recognised. A peerage itself is part of the constitution. In recent royal marriages (eg. that of the Prince of Wales to Raine's stepdaughter Lady Diana Spencer) the royals have put their titles under 'occupation' on the marriage certificate, viz. 'Prince/ Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Certainly, while the Duchess of Cornwall chooses to be known by that title, at the time of her marriage it was stated by legal authorities that she is in law HRH. The Princess of Wales. However whether the retention of a previous title on remarriage is legal still remains unclear.
In terms of precedent stretching back to the Middle Ages, it was definitely the case that female aristocratic titles by marriage tended to be retained upon remarriage. This was unless an even higher one is acquired through that later remarriage after widowhood. Take for instance, Margaret Beaufort (d.1509), mother of Henry VII. Her second and fourth husbands were respectively the Earl of Richmond and the Earl of Derby; she is thus known as Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby. Jaquetta of Luxembourg (d.1472)mother-in-law of Edward IV, although Countess Rivers though her second marriage, continued to be known as the Duchess of Bedford, due to her first marriage to the Duke of Bedford, the title of duchess being higher than that of countess.
Katherine Parr (d.1548), dowager Lady Latimer and widow of Lord Latimer, her second husband, was married thirdly to King Henry VIII. She ceased use the Latimer title, as the title of Queen was of course a higher one. Shortly after the king's death, Katherine married for a fourth time, but she remained 'Kateryn the Queene' after her marriage to Lord Seymour and for the rest of her life.
In terms of this precedent, then, Raine may call herself Raine, Countess of Spencer and Chambrun. As no such precedent has been set regarding divorce however, were the Countess to marry for a fourth time she would tend to lose the Chambrun title, while retaining that of Countess of Spencer (unless the new spouse happened to carry the even higher title of duke.)
Nowadays the practice of retaining previous names is hardly uncommon among professional or public figures; the author Agatha Christie remained so to the public even after a divorce and remarriage. The same is true of the former MP Shirley Williams, and it is of course standard practice for actors, performers and writers to make up a public name altogether. In short,and other than in a legal context, anyone may call themselves whatever he or she wishes.
By what is thus her preferred title, Raine Countess Spencer is a member of the board of directors of Harrods, the department store owned by the father of Dodi Al-Fayed, who died with Diana, Princess of Wales in the Paris car crash in 1997.
Media reports suggested that at the time of her death, Diana had reconciled with Raine, while her relationship with her mother, Frances, had been strained.[2]
Footnotes
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