When Karen Spencer’s marriage broke down after 13 years, she was faced with the prospect of moving out of the magnificent Althorp estate that she had come to love.
But the upside was that, armed with a generous divorce settlement following her split from Earl Spencer, she could have her pick of luxury properties around the world in which to begin a new life.
Many believed that the glamorous Canadian-born social entrepreneur – now correctly styled Karen, Countess Spencer since her divorce – would quit the UK after Earl Spencer began a new relationship and later married Norwegian archeologist Professor Cat Jarman.
But the Daily Mail can reveal how Karen, 54, is carving out a new life for herself just down the road from the 13,000-acre Northamptonshire estate.
She splashed out £3.6million from her divorce settlement on a magnificent country mansion which sits on the edge of a picturesque village some ten miles from Althorp.
Described by estate agents as ‘a remarkable country estate that epitomises luxury and refined living’, the six-bedroom property is said to ‘seamlessly’ blend ‘modern comfort with timeless architectural elegance’.
Set within 24 acres of parkland and formal gardens, the property comes complete with a heated swimming pool, all-weather tennis court, gym and outdoor dining areas which are said to provide the ‘perfect setting for al fresco entertaining’.
In contrast to Althorp’s 500-year history, the Lutyens-inspired house is little more than 20 years old, its classic symmetry and grand facade bear more than a passing resemblance to the countess’s former home where her love rival is now installed.
Earl Spencer’s third wife Karen has used a proportion of her divorce settlement to buy this £3.6million home in Northamptonshire – some ten miles from the home of her ex-husband
Karen, Countess Spencer, 54, is settling into her new property, which is set in 24 acres of land. Unlike 500-year-old Althorp, her former home, this house is little more than 20 years old
Karen’s 13-year marriage to Princess Diana’s brother collapsed acrimoniously in 2024 and he began a relationship with Norwegian archaeologist Professor Cat Jarman, now his fourth wife
Our revelations come amid speculation Earl Spencer, 62, wrote his bombshell book about his sister Princess Diana to help pay for his multi-million divorce settlement.
The controversial memoir prompted a strongly worded response from Buckingham Palace over damaging accusations made against King Charles.
Karen first moved to Althorp in 2011 after falling in love with Earl Spencer who she met on a blind date in Los Angeles the previous year.
She had previously been married to Hollywood producer Mark Gordon whose credits include the blockbuster movies Saving Private Ryan, Murder on the Orient Express and The Day After Tomorrow.
To begin with, Karen divided her time between the English country estate and a home in southern California where her two daughters from her first marriage were raised.
Falling in love with the English countryside Karen, who has a 14-year-old daughter with Earl Spencer, eventually relocated full time and threw her energies into breathing new life into one of the nation’s most historic ancestral homes.
In time, she became very much part of the fabric – quite literally. Her initials were woven into the carpet at the top of the grand staircase, close to her portrait, which hung on a wall nearby.
When news of the split with Karen first emerged in June 2024, it came as a huge blow to the countess’s supporters.
Karen had become something of a social media influencer with a huge fanbase.
They were acquired after Karen chronicled the joys and struggles of overseeing a series of major restoration and renovation projects at Althorp, where Princess Diana is buried.
At the time of the split, one of her 95,000 Instagram followers wrote: ‘You are and were an outstanding custodian of Althorp. It’s too bad you didn’t receive the love and respect you deserve.’
Another said: ‘What a loss to Althorp you will be. You seem to be the first in many years to take an active interest and your passion for preservation is incredible.’
Karen remained at Althorp for some time under increasingly challenging circumstances for all, amid a series of acrimonious legal battles which erupted around the split.
In November 2024, the mother-of-three updated followers saying: ‘It hasn’t been easy finding a temporary rental that can accommodate seven horses, two sheep, four cats and a dog – but with the help of some wonderful friends we’ve finally found one.
‘It’s been a challenging time but also one filled with so much generosity and kindness.
‘No exact move-in date yet, but we’re getting close. I’m excited to embark on the next chapter!’
Karen revealed that her pet sheep Lucky and Minty had ‘gone ahead of the rest of us’, but it wasn’t until January the following year that she moved into her ‘temporary new home’ and at that time she was still waiting for her seven horses to arrive.
In August 2025, Karen announced she had bought a new home and she finally moved in two months later.
Reflecting on the year on New Year’s Eve she wrote: ‘So much to be grateful for. My beautiful new home, so many wonderful friends, my three healthy and happy daughters.
‘The four of us got to cozy up for our first Christmas here this year, which was just magical.’
Since then, the countess has spoken of ‘new beginnings’ and has provided followers with updates as she has gone about ‘making my house a home’ – buying items to fill the property at auctions and adding to the ‘slightly over the top menagerie’ with new additions including chickens and bees.
Karen said: ‘It hasn’t been easy finding a temporary rental that can accommodate seven horses, two sheep, four cats and a dog’. But in August 2025 she finally bought a new home
The Canadian social entrepreneur has been enthralling her followers with envy-inducing posts of domestic bliss and homemaking since moving in to the sprawling property
In one post, she wrote: ‘Am deep in study at the moment… My house was inspired by well known 19th century architect Sir Edwin Lutyens’
The property comes complete with a heated swimming pool, all-weather tennis court and outdoor dining areas which are said to be ideal for ‘al fresco entertaining’
Meanwhile, back at Althorp, the new countess has been keeping her 16,000 Instagram followers updated on her progress as the new lady of the manor – a position she insists she is not entirely comfortable with.
Shortly after moving in, the couple got a puppy and Cat, 44, took her first horse riding lesson.
The couple now have three dogs, and in June last year Earl Spencer bought her four alpacas as a birthday present.
Then in May this year, Cat posted a series of photographs of ‘the happiest day ever’ after it emerged she had quietly tied the knot with Earl Spencer in Sedona, Arizona.
The couple went on to say in a statement: ‘We both feel so incredibly lucky to have progressed from being colleagues, to friendship, to deep love and connection.
‘Each stage of our relationship has been underpinned by laughter and we share a passion for life.’
The couple had met five years earlier after Cat – an internationally recognised expert on the Viking age – had arrived, along with a camera crew, on an archaeological dig.
She was leading a team searching for a legendary lost Anglo-Saxon village which was believed to have stood on the Althorp estate 1,000 years earlier.
Camping out in tents on the estate, Cat and around a dozen volunteers used ground-penetrating radar and dug trenches in the search which proved elusive but featured in the Channel 4 documentary Ancient Secrets of Althorp.
Explaining the experience at the time, Earl Spencer said: ‘I briefly joined in the dig and learnt how taxing kneeling and scraping can be.
‘Your eyes play tricks, convincing you that your trowel has uncovered a spectacular find.
‘Then it takes full form, and it’s yet another piece of flint, or slate, or perhaps a humdrum fossil, when what you thirst for is a tangible link to past human activity and occupation.’
But he explained how he had developed ‘a sharp taste for archaeology’ and the pair, who had a shared love of history, went on to become friends.
Bonding over their ‘nerdy’ passions, they ended up collaborating on a long-running podcast called The Rabbit Hole Detectives, which they hosted alongside the Rev Richard Coles.
Meanwhile, Cat Jarman has been posting on social media about her enviable life at Althorp; in June last year the earl bought her four alpacas as a birthday present
The couple first met when Cat – an internationally recognised expert on the Viking age – had arrived, along with a camera crew, on an archeological dig at the Althorp estate
At the time the pair insisted there was no suggestion of a romance between them with Earl Spencer saying: ‘I’m too old for hearts and flowers stuff.’
At 18 years Cat’s senior, Earl Spencer has seven children: four with first wife, Victoria Lockwood, two with second wife, Caroline Hutton and his youngest daughter from his third marriage.
Cat, who has two sons from her marriage to first husband Tom, devoted much of her time to her busy career working as an author and TV presenter alongside her archaeological research.
But romance did eventually blossom under circumstances which remain under dispute.
The couple – who went on to be nicknamed ‘The Toff and The Prof’ – claim both their marriages were over by the time they became an item.
But in October 2024, when Cat sued Karen for the misuse of private information, the High Court heard that Karen became convinced they had been having an affair dating back some time.
In April 2024, Karen arranged a Zoom call with Cat’s husband and concluded after the discussion that the relationship had been going on since at least the end of 2022.
It emerged during the legal proceedings that the countess ‘decided to confront’ Cat, sending an email in May that year.
She wrote: ‘First of all, as a woman, I just have to tell you that I am so disappointed in you.’
She described Cat’s actions as ‘unbelievably immoral’, saying: ‘Good luck Cat, you’re in for a hell of a ride.
‘I think you’ll find having him to deal with full time will be much trickier than the odd five-day escape to Norfolk and a night or two in London here and there.’
The countess told Cat that it was ‘inappropriate’ for her to continue to come for dinner at her home, saying: ‘Not sure what Charles has shared with you of this, but I won’t have you at Althorp while I still live here.
‘That is a boundary I intend to hold. It’s not fair to me, our daughter, or to all the staff, who are already distraught at the news of our divorce though having to serve Charles’ long-term mistress. It’s just too much to ask.’
Cat’s lawyers described the countess’s claims as ‘untrue and defamatory’, saying she had ‘repeatedly told Countess Spencer… in legal correspondence’ that the allegation that she had an affair with the earl is ‘untrue’.
Legal papers filed by Karen’s lawyers during the proceedings said: ‘Having given up her life in the United States, in order to live in the middle of rural Northamptonshire and dedicate herself to sorting out the Althorp Estate business, as well as having a child, the news was hideous for Lady Spencer.’
Earl Spencer went on to categorically deny the claims, particularly the suggestion about how he had ended the relationship, insisting: ‘The notion that I would end my marriage by text is an absurd attempt to blacken my name.
‘Karen ended the marriage, after endless threats to do so over the years, in early March. She asked me to confirm the end of the marriage in a text of March 18 and my reply was a simple acceptance of her decision.’
The allegations emerged after Cat issued legal proceedings against the countess accusing her of revealing private details of her life.
It came after Cat alleged that Karen had told Earl Spencer and others including staff at Althorp and at their daughter’s school that she had multiple sclerosis (MS).
In May this year, Cat posted a series of photographs of ‘the happiest day ever’ after it emerged she had quietly tied the knot with Earl Spencer in Sedona, Arizona
Cat had said of the disclosure: ‘I have worked very hard indeed to keep my MS hidden, as should be my prerogative. So only a handful of people have known – and Charles wasn’t one of them.
‘I’d been seeing him, romantically, for only two or three months, and still hadn’t told him.’
The High Court battle was not formally concluded until April this year when the matter was settled.
Cat said after the case: ‘As someone living with multiple sclerosis, I have the unquestionable right to decide when and how to share such sensitive details.
‘Pursuing the claim was a necessary and principled step to protect that right, as well as my career and livelihood.’
The proceedings left Earl Spencer with a hefty legal bill of more than £2million.
When the couple’s divorce was finalised in December last year Karen chose to keep her title, unlike Earl Spencer’s previous wives.
Earl Spencer and his recent bride appear to have put the wrangling behind them now – although Cat has admitted she’s still getting used to her new surroundings.
Earlier this year she told the Daily Mail: ‘I come from a country where we don’t have any of this. We don’t have an aristocracy, really. Even the royal family in Norway – no one cares about them very much, certainly not in the same way.
‘It’s very strange to be living here, fascinating but strange. I’m a normal person plonked in an abnormal world. If Charles said to me, ‘I’m going to give all this to the National Trust,’ I would be entirely content. I would live with him in a hut.’
While Karen’s oil painting has been removed and the carpet at the top of the stairs has been rewoven, Cat recently told how she had no plans to feature among her husband’s illustrious ancestors in the family portrait gallery.
She said recently: ‘I don’t feel any need to have a portrait up, or make a mark on it. I find it quite… quirky but odd.’
Karen has won plaudits as a social entrepreneur, particularly for her work in child welfare and sustainability, being named among People magazine’s ’25 Women Changing the World’.
Since leaving the estate, she has continued to devote herself to philanthropy and sustainability, chairing Whole Child International, a charity she founded to improve the lives of vulnerable children, while also serving on the board of the Center for Global Development.
