16. Diana’s Step-Grandmother Was a Famous Romance Novelist
Diana’s parents divorced when she was 6 years old. Her father, Frances Spencer, married Raine McCorquodale. Her mother, and Diana’s step-grandmother, was a famous romance novelist named Barbara Cartland. She was considered to be one of the most prolific writers of her time. In 1977, she won the Guinness World Record for writing 26 novels in one year. Over the course of a 77-year long career, she published 723 novels. At the time of her death, her net worth was estimated to be $17.6 million.
Barbara was married to a man named Alexander. But at one point, she claimed that her daughter Raine was the illegitimate daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent. This would have made her daughter part of the royal bloodline, which would make sense as to why she was a marriage option for Frances Spencer. Prince George passed away in 1942 in a plane crash, so he wasn’t around to dispute this claim. However, it was widely known in the royal family that George was bisexual, and shamelessly had affairs with both sexes on a regular basis.