Frances Shand Kydd - Later Years

Later Years

On 14 July 1976, Viscount Althorp married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the daughter of novelist Barbara Cartland. He eventually won a bitter custody battle over Diana. Frances and Peter Shand Kydd were married on 2 May 1969 and lived on the remote Scottish island of Seil, but was forced into public view following the wedding of Diana to Prince Charles on 29 July 1981. Shand Kydd and her second husband separated in June 1988 after he left her for a younger woman. She blamed the pressure of media attention for the breakdown of the marriage. In 1996, she was banned from driving after being convicted of drunk-driving, but denied she had a problem with alcohol. She and Diana quarrelled in May 1997 after she told Hello! magazine that Diana was happy to lose her title of "Her Royal Highness" following her controversial divorce from Prince Charles. She was reportedly not on speaking terms with her daughter by the time of Diana's death.

Following Diana's death, Shand Kydd made a point of visiting the family of Henri Paul, the driver of the Mercedes which Diana and her companion, Dodi Fayed, were in when it crashed in Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, killing all three of them. She stated, "Strange though it may seem, my daughter's funeral was probably the proudest day of my life. Proud of her, proud of my elder daughters who were rock steady in their readings, and my only son who gave the ultimate tribute of brotherly love for her." In 2002, she testified at the trial of Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, where she was forced to admit that she and Diana had been estranged for several months before Diana's death. She spent her later years in solitude on Seil. She became a Roman Catholic in 1994 and devoted herself to Catholic charities. She eventually became involved with the Handicapped Children's Trust, the Royal National Mission for Deep Sea Fishermen, the Mallaig and Northwest Fishermen's Association, and the National Search and Rescue Dogs Association.