British socialite and politician from a noted family, the daughter of writer Barbara Cartland and step-mother to Princess Diana.
She married Earl Spencer, Diana’s father, in 1976. Bossy, showy, brassy, unsympathetic and businesslike, she was loathed by her step-kids from day-one. Her husband suffered a stroke in 1978, and her family claims that she totally manipulated him. In 1991, a family feud broke out when she sold family treasures to refurbish the holdings. The family was up-in-arms, not speaking to her, calling her “Acid Raine” for selling the portraits, furniture and heirlooms, the total worth of which was estimated at $250 million. The Countess was widowed on 29 March 1992 and she remarried on 8 July 1993, to Count Jean-Francois de Chambrun.
Before her death in 1997 Diana had reconciled with her stepmother, while her relationship with her mother Frances Shand Kydd, had been strained; Diana and her mother had not communicated for several months before Diana died.
Raine’s first marriage was to the heir to an earldom, the Hon. Gerald Humphry Legge, on 21 July 1948. The couple had four children.
Following her marriage, Raine began to take a strong interest in politics. At age 23, she became the youngest member of Westminster City Council as a Conservative. As Lady Lewisham, and later Lady Dartmouth, she remained in local government for the following 17 years.
Raine died at age 87, following a short illness, on 21 October 2016 in Mayfair, London.
Link to Wikipedia biography