Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, has announced his engagement to charity worker Karen Gordon.

A spokesman said they planned to wed at the Spencer family home, Althorp in Northamptonshire, on June 18 this year. The spokesman said the couple will have a “private wedding” attended by family and close friends.

Ms Gordon, a Canadian, is the founder of the Whole Child International charity.

The pair released a photograph to mark their announ­cement. In the picture, the couple, both wearing pastel-coloured shirts, look relaxed as they embrace.

Earl Spencer has been married twice before. His first marriage, to former model Victoria Lockwood, lasted just eight years, and the couple divorced in 1997, the same year his sister Diana died in a Paris car crash.

The pair have four children, Lady Kitty, 20, 18-year-old twins Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia and a son Louis, Viscount Althorp, 16.

He married second wife Caroline Freud in 2001. The couple divorced in 2009 after having two children, the Hon Edmund, seven, and four-year-old Lady Lara.

Earl Spencer was romantically linked to Lady Bianca Eliot last year.

Ms Gordon has two daughters and was married to Hollywood producer Mark Gordon. It is understood the pair split in 2003.

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