Peter Shand Kydd (23 April 1925 – 23 March 2006) was the stepfather of

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

, and an heir to the wallpaper fortune built by his father Norman Shand Kydd (1895–1962). His mother was Frances Madalein Foy (died 1983). He was half-brother to champion amateur jockey William Shand Kydd (1937–2014), who was the husband of Christina Muriel Duncan, sister of Veronica Bingham, Countess of Lucan.

Marriages

He married Janet Munro Kerr, granddaughter of

John Martin Munro Kerr John Martin Munro Kerr (5 December 1868 – 7 October 1960) was Regius Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Glasgow), Regius Professor of Midwifery at the University of Glasgow from 1927 to 1934. A scholar and surgeon of international acclaim ...

. He sold the family business in 1962 and moved his family to Australia, where he became a sheep farmer. After selling the farm and returning to England, and still married, he began an affair with Diana's mother (Frances) Viscountess Althorp. She was married to John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, later 8th Earl Spencer. They both divorced, and then were free to marry each other, which they did on 2 May 1969. He thus became stepfather to her four children, including Diana, although the Viscount eventually won the bitter custody battle. They lived in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and

West Itchenor West Itchenor is a village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It lies north of the B2179 Chichester to West Wittering road 4.5 miles (7.3 km) southwest of Chichester. The vill ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, finally settling on a 1,000 acre (4 km²) farm on the remote Scottish island of

Seil Seil (; gd, Saoil, ) is one of the Slate Islands, located on the east side of the Firth of Lorn, southwest of Oban, in Scotland. Seil has been linked to the mainland by bridge since the late 18th century. The origins of the island's name are ...

. The couple separated in June 1988. Frances blamed the pressure of media attention, following the rise to fame of Diana, for the breakdown of the marriage. In 1993, Shand Kydd married Marie-Pierre Palmer (''née'' Bécret), a younger, chic, voluptuous, and French, woman who ran a champagne-importing business in London, which lasted until April 1995.

Descendants

By his first wife, Shand Kydd had three children. Their elder son, Adam Shand Kydd, was born in 1954 and became a novelist (''Happy Trails''), before dying in Cambodia in 2004. John Shand Kydd, known as Johnnie, was born in 1959, and is a renowned photographer, with more than 70 works in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

Death

Peter Shand Kydd died on 23 March 2006, at the age of eighty, and was buried on 6 April 2006 in

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the English county, county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the int ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

References

1925 births 2006 deaths British emigrants to Australia People from West Itchenor {{UK-bio-stub