Lady Jane

The ties between the Spencers and the Monarchy go back not just generations but centuries. Even today, the family can claim descent from a number of royal bloodlines and over such a period, they make the Windsors look like arrivistes. The wedding of Lady Jane Spencer, then, was bound to be an event - and it was no surprise when she, like little sister Diana, chose someone with connections. True, Robert Fellowes was not heir to the throne. But he was already assistant private secretary to the late Queen - and a first cousin of Ronald Ferguson, the father of Sarah Ferguson - when he married Lady Jane at Westminster Abbey on April 20, 1978.

She has often been referred to as the classic 'wicked stepmother' after being dubbed 'Acid Raine' by the late Princess of Wales and her sisters. When the future Princess of Wales was just 15 years old, Raine Spencer married Diana's father, John, Earl Spencer. The circumstances were horrific; Frances, the Spencer children's own mother, had walked out. So it was not an easy start to the relationship. Other scandals will follow, including the selling of heirlooms, gold, and old masters, as well as a Van Dyke, to help fund a lavish, and in some eyes revolting, renovation of Althorp House, the family's seat.

RICHARD KAY: What are you doing here?' By then Prince Charles, these were the first words spoken to writer Anthony Holden (pictured right). This was also to be the last, more than 20 years ago, and they were delivered in a distinctly chilly tone. Holden later described their first meeting as accompanied by a handshake - 'disappointingly limp.' Nothing more than a princely glower lit their final segment. I can recall that this was far from friendly as a witness to the later encounter in a remote corner of the South African bush in 1997. And yet here were two guys who may have forged a great deal. Both products of Oxbridge and a costly private education were about the same age. If not a shared view, they certainly had some common interest, e.g. a love of Shakespeare and an appreciation of opera and classical music. And all of them had a broken marriage by the time of their marriage and was the father of sons.