Diana's Brother Says I Do for the Fourth Time

When Charles Spencer, the Earl of Spencer and brother to the late Princess Diana, walked down the aisle on Friday, May 15, it marked his fourth trip to the altar. But this time feels different—at least according to what he’s telling people.

Spencer, 61, married Cat Jarman, a 43-year-old archaeologist and podcaster, in a private ceremony in Arizona just five months after his divorce from Karen Gordon was finalized in December 2025. The timeline alone might raise eyebrows, but the couple seemed unbothered by the scrutiny.“We both feel so incredibly lucky to have progressed from being colleagues, to friendship, to deep love and connection,”Spencer and Jarman said in a joint statement.“Each stage of our relationship has been underpinned by laughter and we share a passion for life.”

It’s worth noting that Spencer has been here before. He was married to Victoria Lockwood from 1989 to 1997, then to Caroline Freud from 2001 to 2007, and to Karen Gordon from 2011 to 2025. He has seven children across these three marriages, and you’d think by now he might be hesitant about another commitment. But when Spencer first went public about his relationship with Jarman in November 2024, he sounded genuinely convinced this was something different.“I’m too old for hearts and flowers stuff, but the best way to describe it is that with Cat, I can be myself,”he told the Mail on Sunday at the time.“She knows who I am. Who I really am. I don’t have to pretend to be something I am not.”

What’s notable is how Spencer framed the age difference—18 years his junior. He emphasized that he wasn’t looking for romance when they met as colleagues.“I wasn’t even thinking romance,”he said.“I was at the tail end of a marriage. It just wasn’t a possibility.”It’s the kind of explanation that suggests he was as surprised by the relationship as anyone else might be. He praised Jarman’s emotional maturity and her ability to see him for who he actually is, not who he thinks he should be.

Prince William and Prince Harry’s uncle has now completed his fourth marriage. Whether this one sticks remains to be seen, but Spencer seems more grounded about it than ever before—less interested in grand gestures and more interested in genuine connection. At 61, he’s earned the right to figure out what that means on his own terms.