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Birthday profile

Frances Shand Kydd

Mother of Diana, Princess of Wales (1936-2004)

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Born
January 20, 1936
Died
June 3, 2004
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1936

About Frances Shand Kydd

Frances Ruth Shand Kydd (previously Spencer, née Roche; 20 January 1936 – 3 June 2004) was the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales. She was the maternal grandmother of William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, both respectively first and fifth in the line of succession to the British throne. Born into British aristocracy, she was the daughter of Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, and Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, a confidante of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Following her divorce from Viscount Althorp in 1969, and Diana's death in 1997, Shand Kydd devoted her later years to Catholic charity work after converting to Catholicism. Aged 18, she became the youngest woman to marry at Westminster Abbey since 1893.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Frances Shand Kydd timeline

  1. Aged 18, she became the youngest woman to marry at Westminster Abbey since 1893.
  2. Following her divorce from Viscount Althorp in 1969, and Diana's death in 1997, Shand Kydd devoted her later years to Catholic charity work after converting to Catholicism.

The world when Frances Shand Kydd was born

Frances Shand Kydd was born in 1936. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1936

  • #1 song"The Way You Look Tonight" – Fred Astaire
  • Top movieModern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
  • Top TV showBBC Television Service launches
  • Best-selling bookGone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at Berlin Olympics
  • Top headlineJesse Owens dominates the Berlin Olympics
  • Technology milestoneBBC launches the world's first regular television service
  • Defining fadSwing dancing
  • Notable inventionSun glasses (mass-produced)
  • World population2.26 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population128.1M

1936 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Frances Shand Kydd's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19362026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,100$435,000
Average income$2,900$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population128.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.