Princess Diana Mayfair Residence For Sale

The former Mayfair residence of the late Countess Raine Spencer, a 4,894 square feet Georgian style five-bedroom house at 24 Farm Street where Raine entertained Diana, Princess of Wales, is for sale through joint sole agents Wetherell and Chestertons. The house was most recently the London home of Alan and Mary Hobart, the art collectors and founders of Pyms Gallery.

Built in the early 1980s, 24 Farm Street is a cream-stucco four-story house with sash windows providing substantial accommodation over lower ground, ground and three upper floors, with a passenger lift connecting all levels. The house includes outside space with lower ground and ground floor patios and a third-floor south-facing roof terrace. The house also has a private garage in a secure underground car park, just a few steps away.

The house features an entrance vestibule leading into a large reception hall, ground floor dining room and family kitchen/breakfast room opening onto a patio. On the first floor are two spacious reception rooms – a drawing room and a library – each with double doors giving access to the impressive upper hall. There are two luxurious bedroom suites on the second floor, both with walk-in dressing rooms and ensuite bathrooms.

On the top floor of the house is a self-contained suite providing a bedroom, sitting room opening onto 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.

The remarkable history of 24 Farm Street is covered in some detail in a 2022 biography of Raine Spencer, entitled Three Times A Countess, by author Tina Gaudoin. Raine was the daughter of romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland and the stepmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Raine married three titled aristocrats, her first husband was the Hon. Gerald Legge, later the 9th Earl of Dartmouth. Her second husband (Diana’s father) was John ‘Johnnie’ Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer, and finally Count Jean-Francois Pineton de Chambrun.

After Earl Spencer died in 1992, Raine assumed full ownership of 24 Farm Street and also inherited a seaside home in Bognor Regis, jewellery, an annuity and a £6 million lump sum payment in his will.

After Diana’s divorce in 1996, Raine and Diana grew exceptionally close and the Princess became a frequent visitor to 24 Farm Street, with Diana sitting in her late father’s first floor library alone, for many hours at a time.

In 1996, at a lunch party hosted at 24 Farm Street, Raine was joined by Princess Diana and Johnnie’s long-standing friend Mohammed Al-Fayed. Raine encouraged Diana’s relationship with the Al-Fayed family, and Diana’s romance with Dodi Al-Fayed which ended tragically on the 31st August 1997 in a car crash in Paris. That fateful August night Raine, who was at 24 Farm Street, was one of the first people to learn of Diana’s death, having reached the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital by phone and speaking to the medical staff in French.

24 Farm Street was eventually sold to the prominent art collectors, Alan and Mary Hobart, the founders of Pyms Gallery in Mayfair. The Hobarts initially championed Irish art at their gallery founded in 1975 and later exhibited Nathaniel Hone, William Leech and Mainie Jellett side-by-side with Jean-François Millet, Claude Monet and Edgar Degas.

Peter Wetherell, Founder & Executive Chairman of Wetherell says: “On the market for the first time in 22 years, this impressive house located in the heart of Mayfair has had two prominent owners, Countess Raine Spencer and the Hobarts. When Countess Spencer owned 24 Farm Street guests included her stepdaughter Diana, Princess of Wales, Count Jean-François Pineton de Chambrun, Mohammed Al Fayed and celebrity hairdresser Peter Constandinos. When the house was owned by the Hobart family the walls showcased many prestigious artworks and the property served as a private art museum.”

The house is for sale for £10,950,000 (freehold), together with the long-leasehold private garage. Viewing is strictly by appointment, contact joint sole selling agents Wetherell on Tel: 020 7529 5566 / visit www.wetherell.co.uk and Chestertons on Tel: +44 (0)20 7629 4513 / visit www.chestertons.co.uk.