The home once belonging to Countess Raine Spencer, stepmother to Princess Diana, is up for sale for £10.95 million with Wetherall and Chestertons.
Diana’s father, John Spencer, bought the house at 24 Farm Street, Mayfair, in 1990. Raine inherited it after the Earl died in 1992 and the Spencer children unceremoniously kicked her out of Althorp House, the family seat.
The late princess famously did not get on with her stepmother, although the two became close after Diana divorced her husband, King Charles.
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 just 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 the Mayfair townhouse, a stucco-fronted five-bedroom Georgian house.
She had painted the dining room the same bright red colour as the dining room in Althorp. The Countess had overseen an infamous redecoration of the Spencer family seat, which she also opened to the public. Charles Spencer once described her chosen aesthetic as"the wedding cake vulgarity of a five-star hotel in Monaco”.
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.
After the Princess left the British royal family she became a frequent guest at 24 Farm Street, sometimes sitting in contemplation in the library — her late father’s favourite room.
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. Raine was at 24 Farm Street when she heard the news about the Princess’s death at 36.
The Countess Spencer sold the Mayfair townhouse in the early 2000s and downsized to a redbrick mansion flat in Grosvenor Square. She died in 2016, aged 87, after a short illness.
Art collectors Alan and Mary Hobart, founders of Pyms Gallery in Marfair, came to own 24 Farm Street, using it as both a home and a private gallery. The couple hosted many glittering parties, attended by many Irish celebrities' including Bono and Terry Wogan.
Alan died in 2021 and Mary passed away earlier this year, and the house is now on the market again for the first time in 22 years.
Set over four storeys connected by a lift, the ground floor features a large reception hall and dining room, with an eat-in kitchen that opens onto a patio. The drawing room and library, each with double doors, occupy the entire first floor.
There are two ensuite bedrooms on the second floor, both with walk-in wardrobes, while the entire thir floor is a self-contained suite with a sitting room and south-facing roof terrace.
The lower ground floor, which has seperate street entrance, is occupied by a further guest bedroom with its own bathroom and dressing room, as well as staff accommodation. A long leasehold private garage is included in the sale.
“This important family house is equipped and decorated to a high standard,” said Danish Arif, head of Mayfair sales at Chestertons
“With its aristocratic and Royal connections we anticipate significant interest in this house from discerning buyers around the world. It is a trophy home with an illustrious history.”
