24 March 2023 , 14:07
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Princess Diana's younger brother has sparked rumours of a rift within the Spencer family after reportedly failing to attend both of his daughters' weddings.
Charles Spencer is believed to have been absent from a ceremony in South Africa which saw Lady Amelia, 30, tie the knot with 30-year-old Greg Mallett earlier this week.
The Earl tweeted a photo from his family's ancestral home on Tuesday, writing: "Early morning March light, at Althorp’s Round Oval lake."
He also shared a video showing animals on the lake, writing: "Duck, geese, swans - and, in the distance, coots and moorhens. Early morning life on the lake, at @AlthorpHouse."
Earl Spencer was also missing from his eldest daughter Lady Kitty's wedding nearly two years ago, in July 2021, when she married retail millionaire Michael Lewis in Rome.
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Lady Amelia, 30, tied the knot with her 30-year-old fiancé Greg Mallett earlier this week (gregmallett/Instagram)
The couple pictured in 2021 (Instagram/ameliaspencer15)Last weekend, Lady Amelia and her twin sister Lady Eliza posted plenty of snaps as they started wedding celebrations before the big day at the La Cotte Farm venue.
However, Earl Spencer was not present in any of the pictures.
His failure to appear at yet another family occasion has fuelled speculation that there may be tensions between the father-of-seven and his children from his first marriage.
While it is not known who walked Lady Amelia down the aisle, Kitty was seen accompanied by her brother Louis Spencer and half brother Samuel Aitken.
Charles Spencer is believed to have been absent from Lady Amelia and Lady Kitty's weddings (Getty Images)It came after reports of his relationship with Lady Kitty deteriorating following his third marriage.
A source previously told MailOnline: "Kitty and Charles were very close when she was growing up, but their relationship has cooled and been more distant since his marriage to his third wife Karen in 2011.
"Charles recently suffered an injury and perhaps that will be the reason for him not travelling, but it is just easier for everyone that he is not there."
When Lady Kitty's wedding rehearsal took place, he shared a picture of the moon over his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire.
Lady Kitty, Edmund Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer and his third wife Karen pictured in 2012 (Ikon Pictures/REX/Shutterstock)The insider added: "The four children are all close to their mother Victoria and get on well with their step siblings, and their Spencer aunts and have forged their own relationships with one another without needing Charles to bind them together."
Charles and Victoria were married between 1989 and 1997, moving to Cape Town where Kitty, Eliza, Amelia and Louis were raised.
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The Earl moved back to the UK shortly after their divorce was finalised, coinciding with the death of Diana.
Charles counts the late Queen as one of his godparents and was extremely close to his sister - delivering a moving eulogy at her funeral in Westminster Abbey in 1997.
He went on to marry Caroline Freud in 2001, who he met while studying at Oxford.
Earl Spencer and Lady Kitty outside High Court where he underwent a divorce from his second wife Caroline in 2009 (REX/Shutterstock)
Earl Spencer and his third wife Karen attending Harry and Meghan's wedding in 2018 (AFP via Getty Images)They got together after she broke up from her first husband, entrepreneur Matthew Freud.
But the couple split five years later, with Kitty said to have accompanied her dad to divorce proceedings.
A source told the Daily Mail at the time: "Kitty and her father are thick as thieves, even though he had a very difficult divorce with her mother."
But they are said to have become distant after he married third wife Karen - who he had been dating just four months before announcing their engagement - at the Althorp family estate in 2011.
Charles has not officially addressed reports that he was absent from both of his daughters' weddings.
The Mirror has reached out to Earl Spencer for comment.