Princess Diana’s brother was accused of dumping his wife over a text message after cheating on her with a “long-term mistress.”
Charles Spencer—the uncle of Prince William and Prince Harry—is at the heart of an evolving scandal with his estranged wife, Countess Karen Spencer, and his girlfriend, Dr. Catrine Jarman, 42.
As per court documents, Karen had sent an email to the Norwegian archaeologist accusing her of turning their children’s lives “upside down.”
Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, was accused by his estranged wife Karen Spencer of ending their marriage over a text
Image credits: charles.earl.spencer
“First of all as a woman, I just have to tell you that I am so disappointed in you. Turning all of the children's lives upside down like this is so unbelievably immoral,” read the estranged wife’s email to Catrine, sent in May this year.
“Good luck Cat, you're in for a hell of a ride. I think that 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,” the message said, according to the Daily Mail.
The Canadian-born social entrepreneur got married to Charles in 2011 to be his third wife.
A decade into their marriage, Charles and Catrine reportedly crossed paths in 2021 when she visited Althorp House for an archaeological investigation. The Althorp House is the Spencer family’s ancestral home, which Princess Diana grew up in.
“Turning all of the children's lives upside down like this is so unbelievably immoral,” Karen reportedly said in an email to Dr. Catrine Jarman
Image credits: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Karen and Charles also share an 11-year-old daughter, Lady Charlotte Diana.
In the estranged wife’s email to the “mistress,” she also told her that she wouldn’t allow her to stay in Althorp while she still lives there.
“Not sure what Charles has shared with you of this, but I won't have you at Althorp while I still live here. That is a boundary I intend to hold,” she wrote. “It's not fair to me, our daughter, or to all the staff, who are already distraught at the news of our divorce though having to serve Charles' long-term mistress. It's just too much to ask.”
The Countess tied the knot with the Earl in 2011 to be his third wife
Image credits: charles.earl.spencer
The email was reportedly part of court documents submitted by Karen in response to a lawsuit filed by Catrine, who hosts a history podcast with Charles, the ninth Earl of Spencer. The two also co-authored a book.
Catrine accused the estranged wife of revealing her private details in the lawsuit filed in October.
As Karen fights the case, she stated in her defense papers: “For the avoidance of any doubt, Lady Spencer is perfectly entitled to and will (where relevant or necessary) continue to explain that [Dr. Jarman] and her husband had an affair and that this was why he wanted a divorce and offered no explanation for doing so in such an insensitive and inexplicable manner after 13 years of marriage.”
She also said her actions were “entirely justified and legitimate” because of the way she was treated, especially because Charles allegedly ended their marriage over a text.
Karen accused her estranged husband of keeping Catrine as his “long-term mistress”
Image credits: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
“He did this by text message,” stated her defense papers. “Having given up her life in the United States, in order to live in the middle of rural Northamptonshire and dedicate herself to sorting out the Althorp Estate business, as well having a child, the news was hideous for Lady Spencer.”
Based on conversations with Catrine’s husband, Tom Jarman, Karen “discovered that their affair had been going on since at least November/December 2022 when the two of them were together in Norfolk (although more likely since 2021).”
Charles responded to his wife’s allegations and told the Daily Mail that Karen’s claim was an “absurd attempt to blacken my name.”
“The notion that I would end my marriage by text is an absurd attempt to blacken my name,” Charles said
Image credits: charles.earl.spencer
“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,” he said.
“She asked me to confirm the end of the marriage in a text of 18 March and my reply that day was a simple acceptance of her decision,” he continued. “I have those texts still, and will share them in court when I clear my name.”
His girlfriend, too, addressed the allegations and said she was left “shocked and utterly dismayed” by them. They were a “hideous and defamatory attack,” she added.
“I can understand that she finds it difficult because he moved on before she did, but the narrative that Charles, or I, did something wrong here is simply not true,” she told the outlet.
Charles met the Norwegian archaeologist in 2021 and co-hosts The Rabbit Hole Detectives podcast with her
Image credits: cspencer1508
Image credits: Tim Graham Photo Library
“I do have sympathy for her. I understand what she has lost, because it is more than her marriage and her home. But this still doesn't justify what she did,” she added.
As per Catrine’s claims, her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was one of the personal details that Karen allegedly disclosed.
“I have worked very hard indeed to keep my MS hidden, as should be my prerogative. So only a handful of people have known – and Charles wasn't one of them,” she told the British tabloid.
“I'd been seeing him, romantically, for only two months or three months, and still hadn't told him. It's hard, isn't it, knowing when you reveal something like that,” she continued. “Some people do from the off, but I chose not to. And I stress that it was my choice. Your medical history is the most private thing.”
Catrine filed a lawsuit against her boyfriend’s estranged wife for the misuse of private information
The archaeologist and podcast host claimed that the earl’s wife “found out from someone close to me.”
“In the course of a conversation about whether I had been having an affair with her husband – which I can categorically say I had not been, we were very much just friends and colleagues until after the marriage had ended – Karen learned that I have MS,” she continued.
“It was also confirmed to her that this was not something that was widely known. And yet she then went to Charles and said: ‘You do know she has MS, don't you?’”
Catrine’s lawsuit, filed in October, has not yet come to trial.
“I think he better just stay single,” one netizen said as the drama surrounding the love triangle unravels
