What Princess Diana's Brother Has Said About His Scandalous Age-Gap Romance With Dr. Cat Jarman

Most workplace romances involve cute coffee breaks or stolen glances across the office. Not so much for Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer and younger brother of Princess Diana, whose love story began with an archeological dig and a podcast. In 2021, Norwegian academic Dr. Cat Jarman arrived at Althorp House, the Spencer family's sprawling ancestral home in Northampton in the U.K., to examine the land. What she dug up was something entirely unexpected: a relationship with the aristocrat himself. The pair swiftly became friends, and soon enough were co-hosting "The Rabbit Hole Detectives" podcast alongside beloved broadcaster and author Reverend Richard Coles. By October 2024, Charles had gone public with the news of their romantic relationship on "Good Morning Britain," though his divorce from Canadian philanthropist Karen Spencer wasn't yet finalized.

In a November 2024 interview with Mail Online, Spencer opened up about his much-talked-about love story with Jarman, who is 18 years his junior. He claimed that love was the furthest thing from his mind as he navigated the onset of his third divorce, saying: "I wasn't even thinking romance. I was at the tail end of a marriage. It just wasn't a possibility." The pair's 18-year age gap turned heads, and even Charles seemed taken aback by their unexpected connection, admitting that he'd never been with a much younger person before. While he insists he's "too old for flowers and stuff," he was quick to add that "... with Cat, I can be myself. She knows who I am. Who I really am."

Of course, the timeline of Charles Spencer's relationship with Dr. Cat Jarman inevitably raised eyebrows, given that he was still married to Karen Spencer, nee Gordon, when their courtship began. The situation was already unusual, but if securing someone else's husband wasn't enough, Jarman went on to sue the stylish Countess for allegedly leaking private information. According to The Sun, Jarman's court documents claimed that the things Karen leaked "caused her to suffer a great deal of damage, including distress, upset and embarrassment, for which the Countess is liable."

Digging up the dirt didn't deter the Earl, though. He continued to fawn over about his new paramour in his Mail interview, gushing: "I've never tried to do a hard sell on Cat. She's very canny, very emotionally mature...I don't want to denigrate anyone, but Cat is just completely different to anyone I've ever been with before." The couple shared that they've already taken steps to blend their lives, with Jarman's two sons visiting Althorp and Charles traveling to Norway to meet her family. Spencer added: "I think Cat being Scandinavian is quite lovely for me, coming to me cold, as it were, just accepting me for the person. I've been to visit her parents in Norway, and they really don't have a class system there." It seems the two are excited to be unearthing their future together.