Lady Amelia and Eliza Spencer share tributes to Samuel Aitken on his 20th birthday

Lady Amelia and Eliza Spencer have shared gushing tributes to their brother Samuel Aitken as he celebrates his birthday – amid a rumoured rift with their older brother Louis.

Princess Diana’s nieces, both 31, both shared touching messages for their younger sibling on their Instagram pages, as well as a host of pictures of happy family times from over the years. 

Eliza described her half-brother as ‘the family’s greatest blessing’, while Amelia said he was ‘the best brother anyone could ever ask for.’

Amelia shared a number of photographs from her wedding, saying the moment Sam walked her down the aisle was ‘the most special moment of her life’. 

The comments appear particularly poignant after Amelia and Eliza’s elder brother Louis, Viscount Althorp, did not join the family for the nuptials last month. 

The two sisters described him as the ‘best brother in the world’ and called him ‘the greatest blessing’ 

She called him ‘the most handsome, stylish man’, and wrote: ‘Thankyou for being my rock.’

Meanwhile Eliza wrote: ‘I love you more than words could ever say.’

Samuel first garnered a global profile when he walked his model sister down the aisle at her lavish four-day Rome wedding to retail millionaire Michael Lewis.

He was quickly snapped up by Twenty Model Management and has since appeared in the pages of Tatler magazine.

Modelling is in the blood for the teenager, who graduated from Cape Town’s prestigious Bishops Diocesan College last year and now has his sights set on following brother Louis to Edinburgh University. 

His mother, Victoria Aitken, the first of Charles Spencer’s three wives, had a successful career in front of the camera that serves as inspiration to her young son. 

‘I am an unashamed mummy’s boy,’ he told Tatler. ‘I’m very grateful to her for providing me with this life and education; she is so giving. 

‘I’m closest to her out of anyone. She has just done the most for me by miles.’

The comments appear particularly poignant, after the sibling’s elder brother Louis did not make an appearance at Lady Amelia’s wedding last month

Amelia shared a number of photographs from her wedding, saying the moment Sam walked her down the aisle was ‘the most special moment of her life’

The bond he shares with his eldest sister was laid bare to the world when Kitty asked him and Louis to walk her down the aisle at her wedding.   

‘Kitty is so close to both of us, so it was natural that we were both by her side,’ he told the magazine.

‘I didn’t expect it to be emotional, I’m not really an emotional person, but walking her down the aisle was also one of the proudest moments of my life. 

‘I was very touched to have been asked, together with my brother, Louis. It was a spontaneous and beautiful moment.’

He added he was the ‘little prince’ of his family and was ‘spoilt’ by his siblings. 

While Sam was joined by his brother Louis at his sister Kitty’s wedding, the elder brother was nowhere to be seen at Lady Amelia’s wedding last month.

Like his father Charles, Louis was conspicuous by his absence at the nuptials. 

Louis is said to have a better relationship with his historian father, Charles, than his sisters do.