24 Farm Street, owned by Princess Diana’s stepmother the former Countess Raine Spencer, provided solace for both women during the most tumultuous times in their lives

24 FARM STREET, ONCE OWNED BY THE FORMER COUNTESS SPENCER, PLAYED HOST TO HER STEPDAUGHTER PRINCESS DIANA DURING THE TUMULTUOUS YEARS AFTER HER DIVORCE – THE TWO ARE PICTURED HERE AT A PRIVATE VIEWING AT CHRISTIES FOR THE PRINCESS’ DRESS, AUCTIONED TO RAISE FUNDS FOR AIDS CRISIS TRUST AND THE ROYAL MARSDEN HOSPITAL CANCER FUND.

 Tim Graham/Getty Images

In the wake of her divorce, Princess Diana would often seek solace sat alone among the books in the library of 24 Farm Street. Owned by her stepmother, Countess Raine Spencer, the Mayfair mansion was a place of respite for the Princess of Wales – the library had been the favourite room of her father, Johnnie Spencer, and perhaps reminded her of the mahogany bookcases at Althorp. In 1996, the Countess hosted a lunch party at 24 Farm Street, inviting her stepdaughter and the long-standing friend of her late husband, Mohammed Al-Fayed. Perhaps, behind those cream stucco walls, Princess Diana began to look to the future, to a potential meeting with one Dodi Al-Fayed, to a new beginning away from the claustrophobia of the Palace. Tucked just off Berkeley Square, the Georgian home has played a crucial role in the mythology of Britain’s modern history. Now, 24 Farm Street is up for sale.

The property’s remarkable history is documented in Three Times a Countess, Tina Gaudoin’s biography of Raine Spencer, née McCorquodale. A daughter of ‘the queen of romance’ Barbara Cartland, Raine would marry into the aristocracy three times throughout her life. First, the Hon. Gerald Legge, who would go on to become the 9th Earl of Dartmouth. Her second husband was John ‘Johnnie’ Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer, and after his death she would marry Count Jean-Francois Pineton de Chambrun.

THE LIBRARY AT 24 FARM STREET WAS A ROOM MUCH BELOVED BY PRINCESS DIANA AND HER FATHER, JOHNNIE SPENCER

It was Johnnie, Diana’s father, who gifted 24 Farm Street to Raine in 1990, as a thank you for the support she offered during his recovery from a stroke. The two had met on an architectural heritage committee, and married at Caxton Hall in 1976. Raine had already served on the London Council, and took an active interest in local and international political activism.

Her stepchildren, however, did not immediately warm to the new Countess Spencer. Charles, now the 9th Earl Spencer, described her renovations at Althorp as displaying ‘the wedding cake vulgarity of a five-star hotel in Monaco’ and Diana would frequently refer to her as ‘Acid Raine’. After the death of Johnnie Spencer in 1992, Charles and Diana evicted Raine from their childhood home, refusing her access to any item of furniture that she could not prove belonged to her. With her Louis Vuitton clothes stuffed into black bin bags and kicked down the stairs, the Countess Spencer fled to 24 Farm Street, the home she had made with her late husband.

The home was built in the 1980s. The mansion’s welcoming entrance hall opens out onto four stories of bedrooms, suites, roof terraces, and reception drawing rooms. While Johnnie Spencer spent much of his time in the first floor library, Raine preferred to host luncheons in the ground floor dining room, which she’d had painted the same vivid red as the dining room at Althorp.

FARM STREET IS TUCKED AWAY ON A MAYFAIR STREET BETWEEN GROSVENOR SQUARE AND BERKELEY SQUARE

Farm Street’s top floor offers a self-contained suite, with a bedroom, sitting room (complete with a private south-facing roof terrace), walk-in dressing room and bathroom. On the lower ground floor is a further guest bedroom, opening onto a patio, with a separate bathroom and dressing room, together with staff accommodation providing a bedroom with ensuite bathroom and kitchen. The lower ground floor also has the advantage of a separate street entrance, and over the road a secure underground car park plays home to a private garage.

Despite its central London locale, the mansion would have offered some much needed privacy for Raine, who spent 1995 reconciling with her stepdaughter Diana. The two bonded over drinks at the nearby Connaught Hotel, and as the Princess of Wales came to terms with the breakdown of her marriage to the then Prince Charles, she found herself spending more and more time at 24 Farm Street. Speaking at an inquest into Princess Diana’s death, Raine told the court that ‘we all want the dark handsome gentleman to walk through the door,’ and perhaps she had that thought in mind as she introduced her stepdaughter to the Al-Fayed family during one of her many Farm Street parties.

‘A TROPHY HOME WITH AN ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY’: 24 FARM STREET IS ON THE MARKET FOR £10,950,000

THE MAYFAIR MANSION BOASTS A THIRD-FLOOR ROOF TERRACE AND TWO OUTDOOR PATIOS

Just one year later, Raine would be one of the first people to learn of Princess Diana’s untimely death. Calling from her Mayfair home, she was able to reach the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital over the phone. By the early 2000s, the Countess moved out of 24 Farm Street, making the short trip to the Grosvenor Square flat she had once shared with Johnnie Spencer. Farm Street was eventually sold to Alan and Mary Hobard, the prominent art collectors who had founded Pyms Gallery in Mayfair.

The couple continued Raine’s love of hosting, turning Farm Street into a prestigious private art gallery for their collection, which included works by Degas and Monet. They welcomed an illustrious list of culturati partygoers, once again opening the doors of 24 Farm street to the great and the good of British and Irish high society. The Hobard’s remained in the home until their deaths, with their executors putting the Mayfair house on the market for the first time in 22 years.

‘With its aristocratic and Royal connections, we anticipate significant interest in this house from discerning buyers around the world,’ said Danish Arif, Head of Mayfair Sales at Chestertons, ‘it is a trophy home with an illustrious history.’

24 Farm Street is for sale via Chestertons and Wetherell £10,950,000