Earl Spencer’s girlfriend denies affair and ‘homewrecker’ allegations

Earl Spencer’s girlfriend has insisted she is not a homewrecker amid accusations the couple embarked on an affair.

Cat Jarman, a Norwegian archaeologist, said claims that their romance began while they were both still married were “hurtful” and untrue.

The Earl’s former wife, Countess Spencer, accused her husband of 13 years of having an affair with Ms Jarman, 43, in a high-profile legal battle.

“Both marriages were over when Charles and I began a relationship and had been for some time,” Ms Jarman told the Mail on Sunday.

“These accusations are very difficult to disprove anyway, but it was the way it was done – putting it in legal documents, where it could be reported without risk of being accused of libel. That was so hurtful and anyone who knows me knows it wasn’t true.

“I think I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it is very hurtful when there isn’t the slightest element of truth in it. It just feels really unnecessary, and the fact it was so public. It’s just upsetting.”

Ms Jarman had lodged a legal claim against the Countess, who divorced the Earl in December, for misuse of private information in October 2024.

Ms Jarman alleged that the Countess shared her multiple sclerosis diagnosis with the Earl, 61, and others without her consent. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum in December with no admission of liability.

In a statement read out at the High Court to mark the end of legal proceedings this week, she said she remained “profoundly distressed” by the disclosure of her diagnosis.

Ms Jarman met the Earl, the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, while working on a dig at his ancestral home of Althorp for a Channel 4 documentary in 2021.

She said she and her husband, Tom Jarman, had been separated “for years” but kept it quiet for the sake of their children.

Friends for ‘a long time’

During the litigation, the Countess accused the Earl, with whom she shares a daughter, of having an affair with Ms Jarman before informing her by text message in March 2024 that their marriage was over and then “completely refusing” to discuss it in person.

Ms Jarman, laying out her own timeline, said she and the Earl had been friends for “a long time” before it blossomed into romance.

“Neither of us was looking for anything else,” she said. “We really weren’t. I think that was the key. And the timing was significant for both of us. We both needed something new, but maybe didn’t realise we did.”

In court, the Countess alleged the affair “became clear” when she compared notes with Ms Jarman’s ex-husband who then told her that his wife had multiple sclerosis.

Ms Jarman said the Countess’s subsequent decision to disclose her condition had a significant impact. She said: “The whole thing had a devastating effect on our whole family. It’s taken a long time to put together the pieces.

“It wasn’t right that she shared private medical information. Sharing something [like an MS diagnosis] should be a matter of choice.”

After her legal case, the Earl praised his partner’s “quiet courage” in suing his ex-wife, as it emerged he had funded his new partner’s case with a loan.

“Cat has handled every aspect of this with grace, integrity and quiet courage,” he said. “She sought only what was her right: the same right to privacy that every person deserves.”