Queen Elizabeth II’s private secretary Lord Robert Fellowes, who was Princess Diana’s brother-in-law and the uncle of Princes Harry and William, has died aged 82.
The British courtier was the late monarch’s most important adviser between 1990 and 1999 during the divorces of three of her children and Diana’s death.
Lord Fellowes was also forced to deny bizarre claims by Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed that he was involved in a conspiracy to murder his son Dodi and the Princess.
And he helped the Queen through what she dubbed her ‘annus horribilis’ in 1992 when Charles was at war with Diana, Andrew separated from Sarah, Anne divorced, Windsor Castle went up in flames and public opinion turned against the royals.
He was born at Sandringham in 1941 to father Sir William ‘Billy’ Fellowes, its estate manager from 1936 to 1964; and mother Jane Fellowes, who was the daughter of Brigadier General Algernon Ferguson, high sheriff of Northamptonshire.
He spent three years in the Army from 1960 to 1963 – and in 1978 married Lady Jane Spencer, the elder sister of Diana, who was a bridesmaid at their wedding.
Lord Fellowes died of undisclosed causes on July 29.
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Lord Fellows at the High Court in February 2008 to give evidence in Princess Diana’s inquest
Queen Elizabeth II and Lord Fellowes aboard the royal yacht Britannia in Florida in May 1991
Lord Fellowes marries Lady Jane Spencer at the Guards’ Chapel at Wellington Barracks in London in 1978. To the right of Lady Fellowes is her sister who later became Princess Diana
Lord Fellowes with the King, then Prince Charles, at Epsom Racecourse in Surrey in 1993
Lord Fellowes with Lady Jane Fellowes (right) and their daughter Laura Jane Fellowes (left) at the wedding of William Duckworth-Chad and Lucy Greenwell in Sudbourne, Suffolk, in 2011
The wedding of Lord Fellowes and Diana’s sister Lady Jane Spencer in London in 1978
Lord Robert Fellowes was the son of the estate manager at Sandringham
Lord Fellowes (top left) with Princess Diana and her family in 1995. Sitting (from left): Diana, Lady Sarah McCorquodale (sister), Frances Shand Kydd (mother), and Jane Fellowes (sister). Standing (from left): Neil McCorquodale, Charles, Earl Spencer (brother) and Lord Fellowes
Lord Fellowes was the late monarch’s most important adviser between 1990 and 1999
Lord Fellowes is pictured (back right) at the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981
Lord Fellowes and Lady Jane Fellowes arrive at the High Court for Diana’s inquest in 2008
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