Countess Spencer was known as a vibrant figure who married Princess Diana’s father, Raine, and eventually became a trusted confidante of the late royal family.
Their complicated relationship helped Countess Spencer, who died eight years ago today, land a job as a board director for Harrods International, where she worked for the now disgraced Mohamed Al Fayed in 1996.
At a party with Raine in early 1996, Diana told the tycoon: “Mohamed, this is the woman you should hire – she can organize everything.”
She was soon offered a job, even occasionally working the cash register, and the countess worked for the luxury store until she was diagnosed with cancer in 2014.
Last month a A BBC documentary revealed that Al Fayed, who died last year aged 94, was accused of sexual assault and rape by former employees.
Harrods, which is now owned by Qatar, said it was “utterly shocked” by the allegations and had “sincerely” apologized to its victims.
Countess Raine Spencer serves a customer in a Harrods store at Heathrow Airport in 1997
Raine with the now disgraced Mohamed Al Fayed attending Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997
Raine chatted with Princess Diana at an event in June 1997, just months before the Princess of Wales died
When Raine started working for Harrods, The Daily Mail reported how Al Fayed said: ‘I am pleased that Raine has accepted my invitation to join the board of Harrods International.
‘She has a wealth of experience in areas that are key to the development of my business and her track record is very impressive.’
Her first shift with the company at the age of 67 consisted of eight hours working at Harrods International at Heathrow Airport.
Raine said at the time: “I couldn’t be more excited to be starting a job that is so exciting.
‘I have known Harrods all my life and am fascinated by the international aspect of the company.
‘I have no doubt that Britain can benefit enormously by bringing the quality of Harrods products and levels of service to a global audience.’
She resigned from the role in 2014 and died at her home in London on October 21, 2016.
Raine was previously described by her family as a ‘complete perfectionist’ and even arranged a farewell dinner with 35 of her closest friends.
The Countess who worked in a Harrods store in Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3 in 1997
Raine served a customer in the Harrods store at Heathrow in 1997
Raine with her second husband, Earl Spencer, standing outside Althorp House in 1981
Before she died, she wrote two pages about her life to give to her friend, journalist Michael Cole, after she asked him to read her eulogy at her funeral.
None of her stepchildren from her second marriage to 8th Earl Spencer – Princess Diana’s father – attended the funeral service.
The Countess was born on September 9, 1929, the son of romantic novelist Barbara Cartland and printing heir Alexander McCorquodale.
Raine had four children with her first husband, Gerald Legge, 9th Earl of Dartmouth, and the couple were together for 25 years.
She began an affair with Earl Spencer in 1973, when the aristocrat was a colleague of hers on an architectural heritage committee.
Three years later, Raine and her husband divorced and she married Earl Spencer, whose wife Frances had left him in 1969 for wallpaper magnate Peter Shand Kydd.
However, Raine’s presence was not welcomed by her new stepchildren: Lady Diana, then 14, and her younger siblings, Charles, Sarah and Jane.
Raine Spencer attended a charity dinner and fashion show at the Natural History Museum in 1999
The Countess attended a launching ceremony for Malaysian vessels at Harrods in 2009
Raine’s mother was romance writer Barbara Cartland, pictured above
Raine was pictured as a baby being held by her mother Barbara Cartland
Missing their mother, Frances Shand Kydd, after a bitter divorce and custody battle, the children said “Raine, Raine go away.”
When the Count died in 1992, his children forced Raine to leave the family home.
She would marry the French aristocrat Count Jean-François de Chambrun within a year, but their union lasted less than two years.
Later in her life, she became particularly close to Princess Diana and the couple communicated regularly.
Although Raine lived a glamorous life, she did not receive a headstone until five years after her death.
In 2019, three years after her death, there was only a wooden cross on her grave.
She was buried in North Sheen Cemetery in London and a visitor said at the time: ‘There is only a small, weathered wooden cross.’
When asked about the delay, her children said organizing a headstone took longer than they expected.
Raine’s youngest son, Henry, said: ‘My sister Charlotte is dealing with the commission of a special headstone for my mother, as she did for my father when he died. This is taking much longer than we expected.”
Her daughter Charlotte di Carcaci added: ‘Raine was always a complete perfectionist and for that reason we have taken the utmost care in finding the best way to remember her.
Raine pictured in 1957, she would have been about 28 years old at the time
Raine (left) pictured with her mother, Barbara Cartland, and two brothers Ian (right) and Glen (center) in 1940
‘We were told that it will take a year for the earth where she was actually buried to fully settle and we are in the process of commissioning the right stone to make us all proud of a life well lived and well remembered by everyone who knew and loved it. her.’
In 2021, a gravestone was erected, engraved with a gold crown, and was described by her daughter as ‘simple and elegant’.
It reads ‘Countess Raine Spencer 1929-2016’ and makes no mention of her four children or grandchildren.
Charlotte said: ‘She was elegant and unforgettable, but also a person who loved family.
‘We are so pleased that her gravestone is in place: simple, elegant and a memorial to the love and affection in which she was so widely held.’