Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer sparks fan reaction with unseen artwork inside Althorp

Although nowadays Charles Spencer is an author, podcast host and custodian of Althorp House, the Earl was once a journalist working for American daytime TV show, The Today Show.

On one of his jobs for the programme, Charles was dispatched to Los Angeles in order to interview the legendary artist, David Hockney. During the interview, Charles asked if David would sign his catalogue of artworks, to which the artist responded by drawing a cartoon dog, who was a represenation of his own dog, Stanley.

On Friday, the Earl revealed that he and curators had been rooting around in the attic at Althorp House when they stumbled across the catalgoue, prompting Charles to share the story with his fans.

Relaying the events, he penned: “I’ve been going through piles of old books in the attics at @althorphouse with the curators. Many surprises up there – including finding this catalogue from a David Hockney retrospective in 1988.

“I was a reporter for @todayshow at @nbcnews back then and flew to his LA home to interview the great man. He was, as you’d expect, utterly charming. When I asked him please to sign my catalogue, as a memento of my day with him, he (second picture) spontaneously added some flourishes – including a picture of his much loved dachshund, Stanley, who was quite a canine character…”

Reacting to the story and photos, one follower said: “Lovely keepsake. Did you see Hockneys dachshund paintings at the Wallace Collection recently? Lovely exhibition of dog portraits,” and a second enthused: “Browsing the library there is a DREAM!”

A third posted: “Love this and the history behind it. Fascinating. Thank you Earl Spencer for sharing Althorp’s magic with us,” while a fourth added: “Enjoying you sharing your house and history!” and others just shared heart emojis in the comments.

Charles has recently returned back to Althorp following a family trip to Ontario, where the father-of-seven owns an $8million home. Despite his holiday, he still made sure to record the latest episode of his podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives with Rev. Richard Coles and Cat Jarman.

© Instagram

The Earl’s Canadian holiday home has a little taste of home with a Union flag flying, to which he told his podcast co-hosts: “It’s the little corner of this house that is forever England, the rest is thoroughly Canadian, there’s Maple leaves everywhere you look otherwise.

“He also described the Canadian surroundings as: “very beautiful” although admitted the weather had turned autumnal already. He went on: “There’s no one around, which is one of the joys of Canada, you do have a lot of space.”

© Max Mumby/Indigo

Charles and Karen purchased their luxurious residence on Arthurlie Bay, on Lake Rosseau, in late 2020, and also own a large property overlooking Silver Lake. The Earl has previously posted a photo from the idyllic setting, when he captured a stunning sunset that looked like it could have come straight out of a picture book. The snap also captured a very rare shot of his wife, Karen, who was sitting with two children.

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