Many of the British royals, from King Charles to Prince William, have been celebrating Father’s Day with special pics on Instagram today. Now, the latest to join the pack is Princess Diana's younger brother, Charles Spencer, who shared a painting of their late dad, John Spencer, to his account.
“Happy Father’s Day to all fathers, wherever they may be,” the 9th Earl Spencer wrote in his caption.
Charles (59) went on to describe the history behind the painting in his caption. “For Christmas in 1991 I gave my father the gift of a portrait of him by any artist of his choosing,” the historical author wrote. “Very sadly he died 3 months later, before he could be painted. But, a few years back, I commissioned this posthumous portrait of him, by Paul Blason, which captures so much of my father’s gentleness and humour. What I really love about it is that it’s the one painting at @althorphouse in which the sitter is smiling…..”
In the painting, the 8th Earl Spencer is seen lounging on a couch in the Althorp House library, wearing beige slacks, a navy blazer, a patterned tie and a light blue button-up.
If you look closely in the painting, you can see that the artist also captured other portraits that are on display in the Althorp library. One of these paintings is a depiction of Frances Shand Kydd, who was the mother of Charles and Princess Diana. The 9th Earl Spencer previously gave followers a close-up of this artwork, as seen in the embedded post below.
Kydd passed away in 2004, twelve years after her husband's passing. The couple were not only parents to Charles and Diana, but also to three other children—Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes and John Spencer (who passed away ten hours after his birth).
Thank you for sharing this portrait with us, Charles.
Stay up-to-date on every breaking royal family story by subscribing here.
