It's not yet Halloween, but Lady Amelia Spencer and Lady Eliza Spencer already have Christmas on their minds. Princess Diana's twin nieces are not only ambassadors for Aspinal of London, but they've now collaborated with the British luxury brand to design two special bags this holiday season. Speaking to Marie Claire, Amelia and Eliza share that they'll be heading to South Africa for Christmas this year—and they can't wait to celebrate Eliza's engagement news with family.
"Narrowing it down was the hardest part," Eliza says of designing their festive bags, with Amelia adding they were focused on "making sure we could celebrate the season and everything, but also be elegant and capture the spirit of Aspinal, as well as us."
Just like the twins, their new bags are "slightly different, but incredibly connected," as Amelia says. The "structured" Eliza—available in leather, velvet and rose gold metallic—features an optional sparkling crystal shield lock along with interchangeable leather and chain straps. Meanwhile, Amelia's "playful" bag is a reimagined drawstring pouch with a crystal-adorned wrist chain, available in velvet or quilted leather.
Amelia says that aside from her namesake bag, Aspinal's Trinket Box "is just so beautiful and unique," while Eliza adds, "We both love the Midi Mayfair bag." The twins have carried the structured top-handle style—a favorite of their cousin William's wife, Princess Kate's—on numerous occasions this year, including to Royal Ascot.
Eliza and Amelia are the daughters of Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, and his first wife, Victoria Lockwood, and spent most of their childhoods in South Africa. When asked how their late aunt has impacted their style and their lives, Amelia says, "I think her presence is always with us in style, but more so in spirit. I think she wore elegance with ease and always, you know, led with kindness. The thing what inspires us most is the way she made people feel, you know, with warmth, empathy and authenticity."
Speaking of family, the Spencer twins will be traveling from London to see their mother and youngest brother, Samuel Aitken, this December. "We spend a lot of time with our family in South Africa over the Christmas period," Amelia says. The sisters also have two other siblings, big sister Lady Kitty Spencer and younger brother Louis, Viscount Althorp, who is heir to the Spencer fortune.
"You know, we cook together on Christmas Eve, we watch old films, and we slow down in Cape Town," Amelia says. "The day often unfolds outdoors with the sun, swimming, and it's just simple, joyful."
"We actually decorate the tree on the 24th, and then maybe watch a bit of Love, Actually, or something like that," Eliza continues. "The day is very relaxed. It's very different, obviously, to the traditional English way of doing it all. But it's just that time of year where it we've always managed to be together."
Eliza announced her engagement to her boyfriend Channing Millard in August, making this holiday season even more special. "I'm looking forward to going back to Cape Town and his his family's obviously from South Africa, and a lot of our closest friends and, you know, my South African family," she says. "It'll be really nice to all just get together over that Christmas time and celebrate our engagement and Christmas and just all be together."
"I think now that we're a bit older, we get to focus all our attention on our youngest brother, he's the one that gets all the gifts," Amelia says of Samuel, who is their mother's son from her second marriage. "Although he's not that young anymore, we think he's very young."
"He'll always be our baby," Eliza adds. "Yeah, 22, but we think he's about six!"
As for what the twins will be wearing this holiday season, Amelia says they're "loving the quiet luxury mood with the rich fabrics and clean lines" these days.
"We love a suit at the moment," she adds. "I love to wear a suit. I feel like it's very much my style at the moment. And I also love how much leather is in at the moment, so we're definitely going to try and make that work and stand out."
