Forget pregnant Rihanna or Alexander Skarsgård in thigh-hugging leather boots, the red-carpet moment of Cannes 2025 was the appearance of the Spencer twins: Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza: tall, platinum blonde and with the burnished aura that comes from being the offspring of an earl and top models — and the nieces of Princess Diana.
Flashbulbs exploded at the 32-year-old sisters on the steps of the Palais des Festivals, arms around each other’s waists in matching strapless gowns — one black (Eliza), one white (Amelia) — from the Vera Wang X Pronovias collection. To top it all, there was even a bonus Spencer in the form of their sister Lady Kitty, 34, in purple sequinned Dolce & Gabbana.
“We’d been to Cannes before, Kitty hadn’t, so we were giving her tips for walking the red carpet — turn to both sides, pose for 30 seconds, enjoy it!” says Amelia. “We’re very lucky, these events can be overwhelming and quite intimidating at times, but having Eliza by my side is the ultimate safety net, and vice versa. We can always lean on each other.”
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Daughters of Charles, Earl Spencer and his first wife, model Victoria Lockwood, and from an aristocratic line riven with glamour and society scandals, the twins first caught the world’s eye in 2011 at the wedding of their cousin Prince William: two adorable, demure blondes in statement fascinators in a Westminster Abbey pew. I’ve been warned off questions about their royal cousins, although Prince Harry reportedly reached out recently to the Earl to ask about changing his family’s surname to his mother’s Spencer. They’re a touch more forthcoming about their aunt Diana.
Princess Diana stayed with us in Cape Town a few months before she passed away. We remember her being very gentle and kind and sweet
“She stayed with us in Cape Town, just a few months before she passed away,” says Eliza. “We were five, but we remember going to the beach with her, and her being a very gentle and kind and sweet figure in our lives.” When their father told them she’d died, Eliza asked: “But not in real life, Daddy? Because we thought it couldn’t be real.”
The family had relocated, deliberately to dodge the royal spotlight. Cape Town, their home since the age of three, was the much-needed escape. “Cape Town was very outdoorsy, laid-back, active — the polar opposite of our life in London,” says Eliza. “But London is perfect for the stage of our lives where we are right now.”
Four years ago, they returned to the UK with a Storm Models contract (Kitty — already signed — introduced them), rapidly bagging a string of joint modelling gigs for the likes of Schiaparelli, Armani, Versace, Roberto Cavalli, Chopard, Michael Kors, Bulgari, Alberta Ferretti and Boodles. They were in the front row at London, Paris and New York fashion weeks. This summer they’ll be everywhere. “We’ve got the Serpentine summer party coming up, Royal Ascot, Cartier polo, Wimbledon, iconic events,” Eliza explains.
How British are the pair, underneath? True, they were born to the Earl and Victoria — an airline executive’s daughter from Barnes (“Barnes is stunning, it’s one of the most beautiful parts of London,” gasps Amelia) — but they grew up between the upmarket Cape Town suburb, Constantia, and the family seat Althorp in Northamptonshire.
After their parents’ 1997 divorce, holidays were spent at Althorp, with its 115-foot picture gallery packed with Van Dycks and 550 acres of Capability Brown designed grounds that include Diana’s burial place. Under the rules of primogeniture, their 31-year-old brother Louis (now a budding actor going under the stage name Louis Lyons) is the heir. “It was an amazing playground,” says Amelia, before adding firmly: “but we spent a lot of time with our wider family and have amazing childhood memories of them.”
No one ever calls us ‘Lady’ — except at passport control they say, ‘That’s an interesting name’
The twins shut down any further talk about their father, who went on to have two more children with his second wife Caroline Freud (ex-wife of PR guru Matthew Freud) and one more with Canadian Karen Gordon, with whom he’s now embroiled in an acrimonious divorce — his current girlfriend Dr Cat Jarman, with whom he hosts the podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives, is also in a legal fight with Gordon concerning the alleged leaking of Jarman’s multiple-sclerosis diagnosis.
The Earl didn’t attend the wedding near Rome of Kitty, in 2021, to businessman Michael Lewis, 32 years her senior, chairman of the Foschini group, which owns — among others — clothing brands Phase Eight and Whistles (the couple now have a two-year-old daughter, Athena). Nor did he attend Amelia’s Cape Town wedding two years ago to fitness entrepreneur Greg Mallett (“It was the most magical day,” she coos).
Inevitably, the biggest influence in their lives is their mother, who herself has a well-documented share of past struggles with alcohol and drug addiction and eating disorders (she subsequently remarried and had Samuel, 22, who is also a model, before divorcing again). “Our mother’s always been our biggest fashion role model. She’s so naturally chic, she never tries too hard — it’s less is more,” says Amelia. “She certainly didn’t push us towards the industry but she’s been our biggest cheerleader. She’s always encouraged us to stay grounded. These events can get quite a lot; she says just always remember who you are and where you came from.”
The twins have virtually identical South-African accents, and I worry outwardly about mixing them up. “Don’t worry, we look very similar, sound very similar, just quote either of us,” says Amelia (she identifies herself) breezily. Doctors at St Mary’s Paddington, where the twins were born, announced they were non-identical. But last year a 23andMe DNA test revealed they’re in fact identical. “Getting confirmation brought us even closer, it made us feel we’re not going crazy because deep down we always knew — although it was a surprise to my parents,” says Eliza.
Their bond is very touching. At their private co-ed day school, they were initially put in separate classes but kept waving at each other through a glass pane. “We wouldn’t focus in class at all,” recalls Amelia. Later, they were in the same sports teams and friendship groups. “We’d swap places in classes and trick teachers.” Today they live just a few streets apart in Fulham and attend the same daily barre class. “I’ll go to a restaurant with my husband that Eliza just went to with her partner. The waitress will say, ‘Oh, you were here a few nights ago’ — it looks like I’ve got a new boyfriend,” Amelia laughs.
Eliza initially started off in interior decor and Amelia in wedding planning, but now they work together almost daily. “We work so well as a team, we’ve researched identical twins, biologically our brains go 80 per cent the same way. When one’s having a bit of an off day, the other just pulls it together. We instinctively go into protection mode,” Eliza says.
Obviously, huge nepo factors are at play here. Two thirtysomething sisters — however gorgeous — don’t just land in London and bag an Aspinal of London campaign, as the Spencers have done, without serious connections. Yet — even camera-off — it’s impossible to ignore how charming the pair are: friendly, polite and grateful for their lot. Take Amelia on their Aspinal gig, which channels 1960s English countryside chic, with plenty of mini skirts, flares and knee-high boots in shabby-chic drawing rooms. “We’ve been wearing Aspinal for a few years,” she says, “and we’re just so honoured to work with an iconic British brand.”
While growing up in South Africa, their lineage was very much downplayed. “No one ever calls us ‘Lady’,” says Eliza. “Except at passport control they say, ‘That’s an interesting name’ — they think ‘Lady’ is our first name.”
Despite their parents’ marital difficulties, the twins are monogamists. Amelia was with Mallett for 11 years before they married; Eliza has been with her boyfriend Channing Millerd for nine years. “I’m not engaged — Amelia took her time and I’m doing the same,” she laughs. “I’ve been living very happily with Channing pretty much since we started dating and when the time is right …”
Will they marry in South Africa? “Maybe, but Italy is so beautiful, or the South of France. Who knows where the winds will take us?” Their partners, also from Cape Town and who attended the same school as each other, have “no choice” but to embrace their package deal. “Maybe at first it was a bit much for them to take in, but they see our connection,” says Eliza. “The four of us choose to hang together as much as possible; on weekends the boys will cook for us, we play tennis together. We all travel home to Cape Town together. It may sound very co-dependent, but it’s not — we just really are best friends.”
There’s some autonomy. Eliza and Millerd are launching Lala-V, a South-African rosé brand this summer, while Amelia and Mallett are developing a health and fitness project. “It’s nice to have that separation.”
Both of the sisters want families. “And because we share 100 per cent DNA, our children will actually be as related as half siblings, which is incredible,” Eliza breathes. In the meantime, they’re just enjoying their ride. And why not. “We have so much fun together. The memories we’re making together we’ll have for life,” says Amelia. Although possibly it was Eliza.
