Family drama wasn't something that started with Princess Diana's generation.
Her parents had plenty of it over the years, including a scandalous divorce.
Edward John Spencer was born in London on January 24, 1924, to Albert Spencer and Lady Cynthia Hamilton.
He would go on to attend Eton College, the same school that his grandchildren Harry and William attended.
He then attended the Sandhurst Military Academy and the Royal Agricultural University.
John wasn't considered royalty, but he was royal-adjacent.
He came from a long line of Earls of Spencer.
He served as an aide to the governor of South Australia in 1947, and the Los Angeles Times
notes he also joined the Royal Scots Greys regiment of the British Army.
He likewise held the title of Viscount of Althorp.
He inherited the title of the Earl of Spencer after the passing of his father in 1975.
Frances Ruth Roche was born in Park House at Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England,
on January 20, 1936.
She was also born into nobility.
Her father, Maurice Roche, was the third Baron Fermoy, and her mother was Ruth Roche.
She served as lady in waiting for Queen Elizabeth II.
On June 1, 1954, John and Frances got married at Westminster Abbey.
The wedding had some notable guests in attendance, including Queen Elizabeth.
Frances was a young bride.
At 18 years old, she was the youngest person to be married in Westminster Abbey in five
decades, according to The Montreal Gazette.
A year after their marriage, the couple welcomed their first child, Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia,
followed by Cynthia Jane two years later.
Frances gave birth to a son, John, in 1960.
Tragically, John would pass away mere hours after his birth, the Mirror notes.
Diana would be the next child born, followed by Charles Edward.
Before becoming a family man, John Spencer held the title of royal equerry for both King
George VI and a young Queen Elizabeth.
When his children were young, he rented the Park House at the Sandringham Estate, one
of Queen Elizabeth's properties.
The house was Princess Diana's first home.
Princess Diana's nanny, Inge Crane, spoke to CNN regarding what the estate meant to
the family.
She said,
"There's always been something special about Park House.
It's difficult to put a finger on what it is."
In the mid-1970s, after the death of his father, Spencer moved the family to the Althorp Estate
in Northamptonshire.
According to the BBC, Diana adored her time at the estate, so much so that it became her
final resting place.
Currently, the estate is owned by Diana's brother Charles.
"I'm very conscious, always, that I'm just passing through."
John and Frances' marriage started to fall apart in 1967.
According to The Washington Post, Frances had begun to develop feelings for Peter Shand
Kydd, a wallpaper heir who was also married.
John and Frances officially divorced in 1969, when Diana was 6 years old.
The Telegraph quoted Frances as saying,
"We just drifted apart, and there was nothing either of us could do about it."
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Diana's brother Charles recalled,
"Our father was a quiet and constant source of love, but our mother wasn't cut out for maternity.
Not her fault, she couldn't do it.
She was in love with someone else — infatuated, really."
After losing custody of her children, Frances became estranged from the family.
In his interview with the Sunday Times, Charles Spencer spoke about his and Diana's mother's departure.
"While [Frances] was packing her stuff to leave, she promised Diana she'd come back
to see her.
[...] Diana used to wait on the doorstep for her, but she never came."
"Growing up, Sarah and Jane, my older sisters, were very much sort of in the background.
They were at boarding school.
And so it was Diana and me."
Frances married Peter Shand Kydd in 1969, almost immediately after her divorce.
John Spencer remarried in 1976, to Raine McCorquodale.
He kept quiet about his second marriage and hid it from his children.
Diana was furious when she found out about it.
The Daily Mail quoted her as saying,
"I got really angry and I, if I remember rightly, I slapped him across the face, and I said,
'That's from all of us, for hurting us' and walked out and slammed the door."
Diana became Princess Diana in 1981, when she married Prince Charles.
Her father, John Spencer, walked her down the aisle.
According to People, Diana's father said of her engagement,
"There are times I wish she was marrying an ordinary chap, so I could have her and my
son-in-law living here with me in the park."
Diana's mother, Frances, attended the wedding, but she and Diana were still on rocky terms.
According to the documentary "When the Spencers Met the Monarchy," Frances was "terrified"
that her daughter was marrying into the royal family.
When asked about the effect it would have on Diana, Frances replied,
"It's a very hard question to answer, isn't it, because it's an unknown world for her."
After Diana's own marriage to Prince Charles ended in divorce, Frances would criticize
her daughter's decision making.
Diana's former personal chef, Darren McGrady, said of Frances, according to People,
"She would ring up and be verbally abusive to the princess."
John Spencer's secret second marriage also drove a wedge between him and his family,
but as her father grew older, Princess Diana was determined to be his "comforting angel,"
according to "The Diana Chronicles."
John suffered a stroke in 1978.
Andrew Morton quoted her as saying,
"He was one person before and he was certainly a different person after.
[...] He's remained estranged but adoring since.
If he comes and sees me he comes and sees me, if he doesn't he doesn't.
It's not my problem anymore.
It's his."
John Spencer died of a heart attack in 1992.
Before his death, Diana and 8-year-old Prince William visited him in the hospital when he
was being treated for pneumonia.
John passed away while Diana and her family were on a ski trip in Austria, the Los Angeles
Times reported.
Diana's mother passed away in 2004, seven years after Diana's tragic death.
Frances had a long battle with brain cancer and Parkinson's disease.
A spokesman for Charles Spencer said:
"Lord Spencer's mother passed away peacefully this morning after suffering from a long illness,
and this is now a private time for the family to grieve."