THE new love of Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer is suing his estranged wife for allegedly revealing intimate secrets about her.
Catrine Jarman, 42, says the countess caused her “distress and embarrassment”.
Earl Spencer is caught up in the bizarre legal battle after his archaeologist girlfriend accused his estranged wife of digging the dirt on her.
The besotted peer revealed the blossoming romance in October — after announcing his split from Countess Spencer, 52, in March.
And the two women are now set for an explosive High Court showdown over the spilling of intimate secrets.
Dr Catrine Jarman, 42, is suing Lady Spencer for allegedly revealing private details of her life to a string of people.
The battle lines have now been drawn in court papers which detail the stunning rift at the heart of one of Britain’s most famous families.
Viking expert Dr Jarman, who co-hosts a podcast with the 60-year-old Earl, had grown close to him after a dig at his sprawling ancestral home.
The Norwegian professor was searching his vast Althorp estate in Northamptonshire — Diana’s final resting place — for a lost medieval village.
Dr Jarman, named Nordic Person of the Year 2024 in Scandanavia, claims the leak in May this year caused her “distress, upset and embarrassment”.
The paperwork says: “Dr Jarman was unaware until around mid-May that the Countess had even obtained the private information.
“She only found out after the Countess had disclosed the information to Earl Spencer — the revelation of which was shocking to her.
“Dr Jarman did not, at any time, provide her consent to the Countess to disclose that information to any third party or intimate anything to that effect.
“This lack of consent should have been obvious to the Countess given the nature of the private information and the circumstances in which it was imparted.”
She accuses the Countess of telling a “close group of personal friends”.
She is also said to have told those involved in the “care, education or upbringing” of their 11-year-old daughter, Lady Charlotte Diana.
They include teachers and parents at £18,600-a-year Spratton Hall school, Northants.
The Countess even told her personal trainer, it is claimed
The paperwork states: “It has caused her to suffer a great deal of damage, including distress, upset and embarrassment, for which the Countess is liable.”
Dr Jarman wants damages, an injunction banning Lady Spencer from telling anyone else and a full list of those already told.