Known as a vivacious figure who married Princess Diana’s father, Rain, Countess Spencer became a trusted confidant of the late royal.
Their complicated relationship helped Countess Spencer, who died eight years ago today, work for the disgraced Mohammed Al Fayed in 1996 as a board director of Harrods International.
Diana told the mogul at a party with Raine in early 1996: “Mohammed, you should hire this woman; “She can organize anything.”
She was soon offered work, including occasionally working behind the tills, and the countess worked for the luxury store until she fell ill with cancer in 2014.
Last month a The BBC documentary revealed that Al Fayed, who died last year aged 94, was accused of sexually assaulting and raping former employees.
Harrods, which is now owned by Qatar, said it was “absolutely shocked” by the allegations and “sincerely” apologized to its victims.
Countess Raine Spencer serves a customer in a Harrods store at Heathrow Airport in 1997
Rain with the now disgraced Mohammed Al Fayed, who attended Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997
Rain spoke with Princess Diana at an event in June 1997, months before the Princess of Wales’s death.
When Raine started working for Harrods, the Daily Mail reported that Al Fayed said: ‘I am delighted that Raine has accepted my invitation to join the board of directors of Harrods International.
“He has extensive experience in areas that are very important to the development of my company and his track record of success is very impressive.”
His first shift in the company at the age of 67 was working eight hours at Harrods International at Heathrow Airport.
Raine said at the time: “I couldn’t be happier to be embarking on such an exciting project.”
‘I have known Harrods all my life and am fascinated by the international side of the business.
“I have no doubt that Britain can benefit enormously from bringing the quality of Harrods merchandise and level of service to a global audience.”
He left office in 2014 and died on 21 October 2016 at his home in London.
Raine, previously described by his family as a “total perfectionist,” even hosted a farewell dinner with 35 of his closest friends.
The Countess working in a Harrods store in Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport in 1997
Raine serves a customer in Harrods Heathrow store in 1997
Raine with her second husband, Earl Spencer, outside Althorp House in 1981
Before he died, he wrote two pages of his life to ask his friend, journalist Michael Cole, to read his eulogy at his funeral.
None of the 8th Earl Spencer’s stepsons from his second marriage, Princess Diana’s father, attended the funeral.
The countess was born on September 9, 1929, daughter of the romantic novelist Barbara Cartland and the printer’s 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 her colleague on an architectural heritage committee.
Three years later, Raine and her husband divorced and she married Earl Spencer, whose wife Frances had left him for wallpaper magnate Peter Shand Kidd in 1969.
However, Rain’s presence was not welcomed by her new stepchildren: Lady Diana, then 14 years old, and her younger siblings, Charles, Sarah and Jane.
Rain Spencer attends a charity dinner and fashion show at the Natural History Museum in 1999.
The Countess attended the launch of Malaysian Crafts at Harrods in 2009
Rain’s mother was romance novelist Barbara Cartland, pictured above.
Rain is held by her mother Barbara Cartland as a baby
Missing their mother, Frances Shand Kidd, after a bitter divorce and custody battle, the children begin singing ‘Ryne, go Ryne’.
When Earl died in 1992, his children forced Raine to move out of the family home.
She would marry French aristocrat Count Jean-François de Chambrun within a year, but their union lasted less than two years.
Later in his life, he became particularly close to Princess Diana and the pair corresponded regularly.
Although Raine lived a glamorous life, she did not have a headstone until five years after her death.
In 2019, three years after his death, there was a wooden cross next to his grave.
He was buried in North Sheen Cemetery in London and a visitor at the time said: “There is a small weather-worn wooden cross.”
When asked about the delay, her children said that fixing a headstone is taking longer than they expected.
Raine’s youngest son Henry said: ‘My sister Charlotte is working on a special grave for my mother, as she did when my father died. It’s taking a lot longer than we expected.’
His daughter Charlotte de Carcasi added: ‘Rine has always been a total perfectionist and that is why we are taking the utmost care to find the best way to remember him.
Rein appears in the photo in 1957, so he is around 28 years old.
Rain (left) photographed with his mother Barbara Cartland and two brothers Ian (right) and Glenn (center) in 1940.
“We were informed that it would take a year for the ground where he was buried to be completely buried and we are in the process of finding the correct stone so that we can all be proud of a life well lived and be well remembered by those who knew and loved him. his
A tombstone, carved with a gold crown, was erected in 2021, described by his daughter as “simple and elegant.”
It says: “Countess Raine Spencer 1929-2016” and does not mention her four children or grandchildren.
Charlotte said: “He was elegant and unforgettable, but very much a man who loved family.”
“We are delighted to be able to erect his tomb: simple, elegant and a monument to the love and affection they had for him.”