Diana, Princess of Wales, once pushed her stepmother down a flight of stairs following a ‘furious row’ at Althorpe.
According to the documentary ‘Princess Diana’s wicked stepmother’, the young Princess of Wales ‘flew into a rage’ at a party which was being attended by both her mother and her step-mother.
Raine, Countess Spencer, married Diana’s father in 1976 and was deeply unpopular with her stepchildren – hence the nickname ‘Acid Raine’.
Many years ago during a party at Althorpe, Diana became unhappy that Raine did not pay enough attention to her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, who was also in attendance.
Countess Spencer’s personal assistant, Sue Howe, told the documentary that Diana was so upset, the pushed Raine down some stairs.
Ms Howe said: “It happened on the top of the saloon stairs.
“She had a furious row with Raine because Diana was so upset that her own mother had been ignored in the ancestral home, and she pushed her, and Raine fell down the stairs.
“She was badly bruised and was dreadfully upset.
“It was not justified at all. It was a cruel, heartless thing to do, and I think it was Diana’s perception of how Raine was treating Mrs Shand Kydd.
“I think Diana was very stressed. This sounds really wrong but she wasn’t centre of attention on this occasion.”
Diana and Raine had a difficult relationship, but in 1997, shortly before Diana’s untimely death, the two women reconciled and became close confidants.
Diana’s relationship with her mother, Francis Shand-Kydd became strained in the last year of her life after she called her daughter a ‘whor*’ for “messing around with Muslim men”, according to the 2007 inquest.
Diana did not speak to her mother in the months before her death, and so Raine was there and supported her relationship with Dodi Fayed.
Tragically, Diana and Raine’s new found friendship was cruelly cut short in August 1997 when the Princess of Wales died in a car accident in Paris.In the years that followed, Countess Spencer gave sworn testimony during the 2007 investigation into the death.
In 2012, letters between Raine and Diana were leaked to the media, which shed some new light on the turbulent relationship she had with Diana.
Some of the letters showed a softer side between the pair,with warm words to one another.
Auctioneers wanted to sell off some of the letters the young Lady Diana had written to Raine before the Prince of Wales had proposed. However, Raine was furious and demanded to be informed of how they were released.
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