Princess Diana’s Brother Charles Spencer Shares Extremely Rare Sketch of Lookalike Ancestor

Back in July, Charles Spencer (a certified history buff) shared a pencil drawing of his distant ancestor, Charlotte Spencer, on his X (formerly Twitter) account—and royal enthusiasts couldn’t help but notice the resemblance between the countess and his late sister, Princess Diana. This time around, Spencer, 59, stumbled upon another historical sketch: a drawing of his relative, Sarah Jennings.

Earlier this month, the 9th Earl Spencer posted the hand-drawn sketch on his personal Instagram account. We instantly noticed the striking resemblance between Jennings and Spencer.

“Beautiful Sarah Jennings, 1st Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744), by Sir Godfrey Kneller,” he wrote in the caption.

Charles Spencer also shared why this particular portrait is so special to him, writing, “We are lucky enough to have six portraits of Sarah at Althorp—from teenaged courtier to powerful, brooding, matriarch. But this is my favorite—it looks so modern and fresh, and captures not only her beauty but also her natural intelligence and liveliness.”

Lastly, the 9th Earl Spencer shared some interesting facts about the countess in the final years of her life. He added, “Sarah became increasingly difficult in middle and late age - she changed her Will 25 times in her last year—but she was magnificent, also. Rachel Weisz caught some of her magic and trickiness in the movie The Favorite. Sarah is my favorite female ancestor.”

Per the Historic Houses website (under the “Althorp History” section), Jennings was said to have become “one of the most influential women of her time” due to her close bond with Queen Anne. As Charles Spencer mentioned in the post, she grew up relatively poor when she married John Churchill, who became one of Britain’s “greatest ever commanders” as well as the First Duke of Marlborough. Jennings’s second daughter, Anne, later got married to Charles Spencer (aka the 3rd of Sunderland), who was the owner of Althorp.