Earl Spencer’s divorce deal has been finalised following two years of intense negotiation.
Princess Diana’s younger brother, Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, sealed the agreement with Karen Spencer, 53.
Details emerged over the course of the legal battle of the collapse of the Spencers’ 13-year marriage after Countess Spencer’s submission to the High Court.
She had claimed her former husband was having an affair and suggested that he ended the marriage via text message – allegations Earl Spencer has dismissed.
The pair have now settled that Countess Spencer may keep her royal title – with it understood she had felt deserving of it, having worked hard to improve the estate at Althorp, where the late Princess Diana is buried.
Should Earl Spencer remarry, his new wife will become the Countess Spencer – and Karen would simply be known as Countess Spencer, without ‘the’ as a prefix.
The divorce was finalised in December, though it is understood there are still financial matters to be decided.
Relaying his judgment in the family court, Mr Justice Peel said: ‘There are, however, a number of aspects of this which are hotly disputed.’
A decision is yet to be made on how much Earl Spencer will pay his former wife with regard to the litigation with Professor Cat Jarman, 43, his girlfriend.
The ‘hotly disputed’ case was settled in December after Ms Jarman, a Norwegian archaeologist, who co-hosts a podcast with the earl, sued Karen for the ‘misuse of private information’.
As part of the case, Ms Jarman claimed Countess Spencer had told people she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) – without her consent.
Karen’s lawyer settled out of court with no admission of liability as a court ruled the costs would in part be funded by the earl through the divorce settlement.
The Countess’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said she had been ‘shocked and devastated’ when Earl Spencer allegedly sent her a text message containing the ‘hideous’ news he wanted a divorce.
It came a mere ‘four weeks’ after he had sent her a ‘romantic message’ on Valentine’s Day.
Karen confronted Jarman after suspecting she was having an ‘affair’ with her husband.
In an email sent to Jarman, shared with the court, read: ‘Good luck Cat, you’re in for a hell of a ride.
‘I think you’ll find having him to deal with full-time will be much trickier than the odd five-day escape to Norfolk and a night or two in London here and there.’
Jarman described the claims as ‘untrue and defamatory’ and Spender denied the allegations were true.
He previously told the Daily Mail: ‘The notion that I would end my marriage by text is an absurd attempt to blacken my name.
‘Karen ended the marriage, after endless threats to do so over the years, in early March. She asked me to confirm the end of the marriage in a text of March 18 and my reply was a simple acceptance of her decision.’
Spencer is understood to have hired Fiona Shackleton, a divorce lawyer known as ‘steel magnolia’, who previously represented Prince Charles in his 1996 divorce from the earl’s sister, Princess Diana.
Last year Karen revealed she had moved out of Althorp following the couple’s separation in 2024.
She is now said to be considering her future with new business plans.
Shortly before the breakdown of the marriage she had helped launch a new initiative to bring visitors closer to the Althorp estate – the Spencer 1508 series which saw videos released on YouTube about work taking place in the house and grounds.
And in 2020, Karen devised plans to transition the Althorp estate to regenerative organic farming with the agricologist Nicole Masters – helping secure a £3.6million grant from Natural England to restore parkland and create new wetland ecosystems.
Earl Spencer’s previous marriages were to Victoria Aitken and Caroline Freud – lasting eight years and six years respectively.
Just five years into his marriage with Victoria (then Lockwood), cracks began to show – with reports emerging of Earl Spencer’s alleged infidelities.
Victoria was also struggling with anorexia and an alcohol addiction.
In a bid to salvage their marriage and escape the spotlight, Victoria and Charles relocated to South Africa in 1995.
But just two years later, the couple announced their separation. During their divorce hearing, Victoria accused Charles of sleeping with other women while she was in rehab.
After being reminded of his pledge to stick by his wife through thick and thin, Charles told the judge that his wife was ‘thin and certainly thick’.
