Interesting details have emerged in the aftermath of Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer's announced divorce from his third wife, the former Mrs. Karen Gordon. Several news outlets have reported that Count Spencer has hired the same divorce attorney to represent him in the matter, who also represented his former brother-in-law, King Charles (then Prince Charles), in his divorce from Princess Diana, which was finalized in 1996.

Fiona Shackleton is "the person responsible for Princess Diana losing her HRH title," Tatler reported. In addition to Charles squared, Shackleton has represented Paul McCartney, Madonna, and Liam Gallagher, and in the same year as Charles and Diana's 1996 divorce, she also represented Prince Andrew during his divorce proceedings from Sarah Ferguson.

Spencer announced her divorce from Gordon in the Mail on Sunday, calling their separation "very sad" and adding, "I just want to dedicate myself to all my children, and grandchildren. I wish Karen every happiness in the future," he added.

The couple married in 2011 at the Spencer family's ancestral home in Althorpe and have a 12-year-old daughter, Lady Charlotte Diana; in a 2020 interview with The Sunday Times, Spencer said of herself and Gordon, "Neither of us has ever been this happy."

However, the couple has not been married for more than a year.

However, as Spencer wrote his devastatingly personal and tragic memoir, A Very Private School (published in March of this year and detailing the abuse inflicted on him and others while at boarding school), Tatler wrote that "the psychological strain the Count felt while writing his memoirs . It is understood that their relationship broke down because of the psychological strain they felt." In the book's acknowledgments section, Spencer thanks his wife and family for supporting him as he "wimped out and squeezed out" while writing, and elsewhere in the book he reflects on how his childhood experiences at boarding school contributed to the "demise" of his first and second marriages. He writes, "I learned early in therapy that being sent to boarding school at the age of eight meant that I had no understanding of intimacy at all."

Spencer was married to Victoria Lockwood from 1989 to 1997 and had three daughters, Lady Kitty, twins Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza, and a son Louis, Viscount Althorpe In 2001, Spencer married Caroline Freud, and they had two children, Edmund and Lara, They had two children, Edmund and Lara, but divorced in 2007.

Of Gordon in particular, Spencer told People that he was "supportive" of her help in the writing process. She said, "I think it was very challenging for her to have her husband go through four and a half years of very difficult therapy. And she supported the idea that I would do it."

He added, "I think she wanted me to be happier and healthier. And that seems to be very true. So I'm grateful that she was there for me while I was going through this.

According to The Independent, Gordon is the founder of Whole Child International, a US-based organization "working to improve the quality of care for vulnerable children."

Regarding the divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Ingrid Sward, a royal biographer, described the terms Shackleton negotiated regarding Princess Diana as "harsh. Her actions were restricted and she was not even allowed to work a regular job to earn money."

In 2010, Shackleton was named Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia by the late Queen Elizabeth. Us Weekly magazine called her a lawyer's "magnolia of steel," and Shackleton said in 2020 that she still believed in marriage. Of her husband Ian, she told the Financial Times. 'I was a divorce lawyer for quite a long time before I got married, so I could see who was in the filing cabinet. In short, it's all about kindness."

According to the Daily Mail, representing Shackleton is not a cheap job.