Miscellaneous: Lady Diana Spencer - The School Years
Lady Diana grew up largely without her mother. Her schooling at West Heath near Sevenoaks, was precisely the environment an intact family might have provided. The isolation of these early years formed much of Diana’s internal psychological structure and need for approval, sociability, and acceptance. The rigid practices of private school and living away from home did little to repair these needs.
Diana’s participation in school was focused around her gentle personality and sunny social dynamics. Academia and rigorous achievement were never her strong suit. Her enjoyment of swimming, ballet, and other hobbies characterized her growth to teenage years. Lady Diana was noted by previous teachers and school mates as being friendly, quiet, possessed of a cheerful and sometimes mischievous personality. Visits to and from her mother were occasional and hardly adequate to compensate for a broken family dynamic.
Schooled at Riddlesworth Hall, Lady Diana seemed to be following the traditional path of blue blood English roses marking time until the matrimonial hunt began. The Spencer family boasted many famous beauties and ambitious marriages in their history. But in the 1970’s, the spectre of divorce hung over her head among the classmates somewhat. The marriage of the eldest sister Jane positioned Lady Diana as a bridesmaid. Lady Jane married Robert Fellowes, who would be a career employee of the Royal palace.
The new Countess Spencer was very different from the mother the children had known. Raine Dartmouth, previously married to The Earl of Dartmouth, was the daughter of romance novelist Barbara Cartland and considered something of a social climber. Lady Diana as a teenager read Dame Barbara Cartland’s novels. These books characteristically featured a woman of impeccable lineage and beauty capturing the heart of an impossible wealthy and high born lord nobleman or king.
The middle sister Lady Sarah was coming into her own as a social personality. Lady Diana was sent to be “finished” at Institut Alpin at Videmanette. At this time the Earl remarried and her sister Lady Sarah was skiing with the Prince of Wales, the heir to throne named Charles. The remarriage of the Earl was hardly conducive to anything but an arm’s length relationship with her father. With Lady Sarah out and about, and her younger brother still in school, and her oldest sister married, Lady Diana was at loose ends.
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