An Indian business tycoon has purchased the £10 million former London residence of Countess Raine Spencer, the stepmother to Princess Diana with whom she had a rocky relationship.
The unnamed buyer now owns the 5th floor apartment at 47 Grosvenor Square which has 2,145 sq ft of living space. The sole agent, Wetherell, says that the apartment was sold as a “shell and core” unit and will now need substantial refurbishment and modernization in order to fully realise the potential of an apartment that overlooks London’s most prestigious garden square.
Once refurbished - Wetherell estimate £1.,5 million in costs - the apartment will offer two bedroom suites, both with dressing areas and luxurious en suite bathrooms, and a triple reception room, spanning the entire width of the apartment, with four tall sash windows offering views over Grosvenor Square. It will also provide a spacious family kitchen/breakfast room and a separate pantry/utility room.
Because the property is currently an empty shell, Wetherell commissioned Casa e Progetti, the award-winning luxury design studio to create a portfolio of stunning CGI interior images to show buyers how the apartment could look once refurbished.
Using the signature techniques of Raine Spencer’s favourite interior designer David Hicks as inspiration Casa e Progetti used CGI technology to create a series of rooms and dressed interior concepts for the apartment.
Peter Wetherell, Founder & Executive Chairman of Wetherell says: “The former Mayfair apartment owned by Raine Spencer at 47 Grosvenor Square has been purchased by an Indian buyer to serve as their London pied-a-terre. The apartment was purchased as a “shell and core” unit but once refurbished and interior designed, it will serve as an excellent long-term investment and London residence.”
As far as the Diana connection is concerned, Countess Raine Spencer divorced her first husband and married the Earl Spencer in 1976, much to the horror of Diana and her younger brother Charles. The two youngest Spencer children reportedly nicknamed their new stepmother “Acid Raine” and sang “Raine Raine Go Away” to taunt her.
Princess Diana held so much animosity towards her stepmother that, aged 28, she physically attacked Raine during a row at Althorp when the family was gathered there for her brother’s wedding. "I pushed her down the stairs, which gave me enormous satisfaction," the Princess once told her vocal coach. "I wanted to throttle that stepmother of mine. She brought me such grief."
When the Earl died in 1990, Diana and her brother Charles unceremoniously turfed Raine out of Althorp two days later. Diana insisted that Raine’s designer wardrobe be stuffed into binbags, which her brother allegedly kicked down the stairs. Countess Spencer retreated to a Mayfair townhouse at 24 Farm Street, a stucco-fronted five-bedroom Georgian house.
But as she went through her own high profile divorce, Princess Diana’s warmed to her stepmother, inviting her for lunch at Kensington palace. The two women regularly lunched at the Connaught Hotel in Mayfair.
In 1996 Raine Spencer introduced Diana to her friend Mohamed Al-Fayed, at a lunch party at the Mayfair townhouse. Diana would go on to date Mohamed’s son Dodi Al-Fayed, before their tragic death in the Paris car crash in 1997.
The Countess Spencer sold the Mayfair townhouse in the early 2000s and moved to the apartment in Grosvenor Square. She died in 2016, aged 87, after a short illness.
Wetherell are noting the rise of UHNWI (Ultra High Net Worth Individuals) Indian buyers, who this year have been the most active overseas purchasers of Mayfair homes above £15 million, and comprising 25 per cent of all international buyers. Other high profile investments in Prime Central London by Indian HNWI include apparel business owner Harish Ahuja buying a £21 million Notting Hill home in September, billionaire Ravi Ruia investing in a £113 million mansion overlooking Regent’s Park, and vaccine tycoon Adar Poonawalla buying Aberconway House in Mayfair for £138 million.
