Charles Spencer took to social media on Sunday with a touching family photo following the shock fire at his property, Althorp House, on Saturday.
The ninth Earl Spencer, 60, shared a photo of a newspaper cutting featuring his great-grandfather, Jack Spencer, the former Lord Chamberlain to King Edward VII. The impressive cutting showed Jack welcoming the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia to Cowes on the Isle of Wight 115 years ago.
Captioning the photo, he wrote: "A newspaper cutting proudly inserted by my grandfather, Jack Spencer, in his 1909 scrapbook—recording my great-grandfather’s role in welcoming the doomed Tsar and Tsarina of Russia to Cowes on the Isle of Wight, that summer, 115 years ago.
"My great-grandfather, who was Lord Chamberlain to King Edward VII, sat next to the Tsarina on two consecutive days, and he wrote of these encounters in his unpublished diaries."
Charles then explained that this special piece of history served as inspiration for one of the chapters of his new book, The Rabbit Hole, based on his weekly podcast with Reverend Richard Coles and Professor Cat Jarman, which is out in October.
The update came just hours after the Earl revealed there had been a fire "started by youths in balaclavas" in an empty industrial unit on the Althorp Estate on Saturday.
© InstagramHe wrote: "Grateful to @northantsfire for tackling a blaze in an empty @AlthorpHouse industrial unit this afternoon. Eyewitnesses heard bangs and saw 'youths in balaclavas' running and biking away—then saw the smoke and flames. Thankfully no one was hurt, and the trees seem safe."
Charles shared a photo of thick grey smoke filling the air as the fire service attended to the incident.
Althorp recently played host to Prince Harry, who stayed with his uncle during his surprise visit to the UK for his uncle, Charles' brother-in-law Lord Robert Fellowes' funeral, according to PEOPLE magazine. The funeral took place at St Mary's Church in Snettisham, Norfolk.
