BRITAIN: Frances Shand Kydd, the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales, died yesterday. She was 68 and had been ill for some time.
Ms Shand Kydd was grandmother of Princes William and Harry and lived alone on the remote Scottish island of Seil, near Oban.
She faced tragedy and difficulty throughout her life. She endured the death of not just one, but two of her children: Diana in a car crash in Paris, but also a baby son who died hours after he was born.
The woman who, after Diana's marriage to the Prince of Wales, looked set to be the mother of Britain's next queen was also twice divorced, first leaving her husband for a married man and then being deserted herself.
In the months leading up to the princess's death, the pair were not on speaking terms.
When Diana died, Ms Shand Kydd turned to her Roman Catholic faith for solace when forced to grieve in the glare of a media frenzy as millions mourned the princess.
Queen Elizabeth sent a private message of condolence to Lord Spencer following news of his mother's death, said a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman.
A spokeswoman for the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund said their thoughts were with the family of Ms Shand Kydd, and that her contribution would be "much missed".
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, the Right Rev Ian Murray, paid tribute to Ms Shand Kydd.
"She was a well-kent (well-known) face in the Oban area, a reader at Mass in the cathedral and always on hand to prepare teas and coffees, making meals for visiting clergy and generally helping out in whatever way she could," he said.
"She once said that her father had taught her to treat everyone the same, whether they came from 'castle, cottage or caravan'. That was a lesson she lived out very well."