Earl Spencer, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, has married his fourth wife, Norwegian archaeologist Professor Cat Jarman, in a private ceremony in the United States. Photo / Caitlyn Jennings
Earl Spencer, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, has married his fourth wife, Norwegian archaeologist Professor Cat Jarman, in a private ceremony in the United States. Photo / Caitlyn Jennings
Earl Spencer has married his fourth wife, Norwegian archaeologist Professor Cat Jarman, in Arizona, United States.
The couple married in a private ceremony on Friday.
They met after the Earl, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was asked to review her 2021 non-fiction best-seller River Kings, which wason her specialist subject of the Vikings. Fortunately, the Earl, who has authored nine books, gave it a positive review.
The couple have since worked together on archaeological digs and as co-hosts of a podcast. They started dating two years ago.
They said in a joint 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 pair started dating two years ago. Photo / Caitlyn Jennings
The couple confirmed they were in a relationship in October 2024.
The announcement came days after it emerged Jarman had lodged a High Court claim against the Earl’s third wife, Countess Karen Spencer, who she accused of the misuse of private information.
She alleged the Countess, who shares a daughter with the Earl, had shared her multiple sclerosis diagnosis with friends and colleagues – as well as the Earl – without her permission.
The civil claim was settled out of court last year with no admission of liability.
Jarman led the search for the remains of an ancient Roman villa in the grounds of the Earl’s family estate, Althorp, in 2021 for a Channel 4 documentary.
The pair, along with Reverend Richard Coles, are co-hosts of the popular history podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives, with the trio writing a trivia book to accompany the series.
The Earl explained how they met in a television interview in 2024, saying: “Cat Jarman, who is my partner now actually. She’s a brilliant archaeologist.
“It sounds like an Alan Partridge title, but she is Nordic Person of 2024, which is usually handed out to someone like Sven-Goran Eriksson or a composer to be Nordic Person of the Year.”
He added: “Well, first of all I met her because we both had the same publisher, but secondly, I know this sounds rather bizarre but she came to dig up a Roman villa on some land I’ve got.
“Richard, Cat and I would end up together and Richard had been recently bereaved so was semi-living with me, and the three of us would just talk and talk and talk.
“Cat said, ‘Let’s do a podcast’, and out of the podcast came the book.”
Countess Spencer, born Karen Villeneuve, shares a daughter, Charlotte Diana, with the Earl.
Jarman has two daughters with her former husband Tom Jarman.
The Earl proposed to his first wife, Victoria Lockwood, six weeks after meeting her.
The couple married in September 1989 and had daughter Kitty, twins Amelia and Eliza, and Louis, Viscount Althorp.
When the children were young, Lockwood relocated with them to Cape Town in a bid to escape media attention generated by the Earl’s sister, Princess Diana. They filed for divorce in 1997.
The Earl went on to marry Caroline Freud, the former wife of PR executive Matthew Freud, in 2001.
The pair had been friends since their student days at Oxford.
They had two children, Edmund and Lara, before divorcing after five years of marriage.
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