Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, The Ninth Earl Spencer is the second and only surviving son of John Spencer, The Eighth Earl Spencer. He is the godson of Queen Elizabeth II. The youngest of his three older sisters was the late Diana, Princess of Wales. The Spencers have been in England since 1066. As a matter of interest, their relatives were a family named Washington, who, since they weren’t major land owners, had to emigrate to the new country. Lord Spencer has written two books about his family and has established a museum to honor his sister, Diana.
The proper way to address him at the Gala is “Lord Spencer.”

Althorp (pronounced “Allthrup”), is a 14,000-acre country estate and stately home in Northamptonshire, England. Celebrating its 500th anniversary, it has been in the Spencer family since 1508. Althorp, in the fashion of the great ancestral houses of England, has evolved over the centuries, as successive generations have remodeled and added to the property. The house, now surrounded by a 550-acre walled park, has been open to the public for more than 50 years so that visitors might enjoy the fine furnishings and artwork collected by twenty generations of Spencers. The estate stable block was converted into a museum devoted to the memory of Diana, displaying her wedding dress and many of her personal effects. She is buried on a small island in the middle of a lake on the estate. Today, many visitors come to Althorp to see Diana’s childhood home and to pay their respects to this beloved princess.