Mystery as Earl Spencer's new love takes his wife to court

When his first marriage disintegrated, a court heard that he had acknowledged he had been 'vicious, cruel and a bully' to his wife, Victoria.

But the ending of his second marital excursion was arguably even worse: he walked out on his new wife, Caroline – who'd had a daughter, Lara, just four months earlier – to pursue an affair with American television presenter Coleen Sullivan. She had come to interview him about his late sister, Princess Diana.

So Earl Spencer, 60, might have hoped that his divorce from his current Countess, the glamorous former Karen Villeneuve – from whom he parted earlier this year – might be concluded with less rancour and certainly less publicity.

If so, such hopes have been shattered by an impending High Court action in which Countess Spencer is being sued for misuse of private information. But it's the next detail which might seem too far-fetched for a mini-series script.

For I can reveal that the person bringing the claim against Karen, 52, is none other than Professor Catrine Jarman, 42.

Cat, as she's known, is the blonde Scandinavian archaeologist with whom, for the past few months, Earl Spencer has co-hosted a history podcast, The Rabbit Hole Detectives.

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But, as Spencer and Jarman conceded in an interview this week, their relationship now transcends the merely professional. 'We are close,' Spencer said of their budding romance. It might, perhaps, have been difficult for him to say anything else, given that he and Cat were seen in London this summer utterly at ease in each other's company as they headed out to see musical comedy, The Book of Mormon.

They first met when Cat came searching for an ancient village 'lost' in the grounds of Althorp, Spencer's glorious family seat in Northamptonshire, for a Channel 4 documentary. The quest proved fruitless.

But, judging by her High Court action, Cat, who has now reportedly separated from her husband, believes that she's dug up something else instead.

She declines to comment. So does Canadian-born Karen, who remained at Althorp following her separation from Spencer. But was the Countess giving any clues when mentioning on social media what was found during 'the excavation'?

She wrote: 'You won't believe it! Can't wait to share.'