Lord Fellowes dead at 82: He was Princess Diana’s brother-in-law and was married to Baroness Jane Fellowes

Lord Fellowes was born at Sandringham in 1941, his father Sir William Fellowes, who was known as ‘Billy’ had been a shooting companion of Queen Elizabeth II’s father King George V1 and was also a land agent at Sandringham. Lord Fellowes mother was called Jane, and she was the daughter of Brigadier General Algernon Ferguson, high sheriff of Northamptonshire, and through his mother, Lord Fellowes was related to Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

According to The Times, “When he was born, at Sandringham, in 1941, one of his first visitors was Princess Elizabeth, who, as Queen Elizabeth II, once remarked: “Robert is the only one of my private secretaries I have held in my arms.” He was educated at Eton, where for three years he was in The Eleven; his obsession with cricket taking priority over most other things.”

Princess Diana was a bridesmaid when Lord Fellowes married her older sister, the then Lady Jane Spencer in 1978. The couple had three children, Laura, Alexander and Eleanor, Laura is one of Princess Charlotte’s godmothers. 

Before his marriage to Lady Jane Spencer, he was in the army in the early 1960s and then embarked on a career in the city. He became assistant private secretary to the Queen in 1977 until 1986 and was her deputy private secretary from 1986 until 1990. Lord Fellowes then was her private secretary from 1990 until 1999. 

After Lord Fellowes' sister-in-law, Princess Diana died on 31 August 1997, according to The Times, “Lord Fellowes was also part of a small group of senior courtiers who helped convince the Queen to return to London from Balmoral following Diana's death.

“During that time, Robert penned the first draft of the Queen's historic speech when she addressed the crowds as "your Queen, and as a grandmother" to the British public on the eve of Diana's funeral. The final version of this famous speech was written by Lord Fellowes, the Queen, and her private secretary, Sir Robin Janvrin.”

Until the death of Queen Elizabeth II,  he remained an extra equerry to her and was created a life peer in the Queen’s Birthday Honours LIst in July 1999 when he was given the title of Baron Fellowes of Shotesham in the County of Norfolk.