Frances Shand Kydd

Princess Diana ' s mother; 68

Frances Shand Kydd, who had an often turbulent relationship with her late daughter, Diana, the Princess of Wales, died Thursday at her home in Scotland. She was 68.

Mrs. Shand Kydd ' s health had been failing in recent months, and the grandmother of Prince William and Prince Harry had been taken from her home on Seil Island, where she led a reclusive life, to a hospital in nearby Oban a number of times.

A spokesman for her son, Earl Spencer, said Mrs. Shand Kydd " passed away peacefully this morning, after suffering from a long illness, and this is now a private time for the family to grieve. "

Queen Elizabeth II sent a private message of condolence to Earl Spencer, Buckingham Palace said.

Mrs. Shand Kydd was born Frances Ruth Burke Roche, daughter of the Fourth Baron Fermoy. Her mother, Lady Ruth Fermoy, was a confidante and lady in waiting to the late Queen Mother and was said later to have had a hand in promoting Diana ' s marriage to the Prince of Wales, Charles.

Prince Charles said his former mother-in-law " will be sorely missed. " Prince William said he and his brother Harry " are very upset by the death of our grandmother, and we will miss her a lot. "

Mrs. Shand Kydd married Edward John Spencer in 1954 at Westminster Abbey. They had three daughters Diana was the youngest and one son.

The marriage foundered in 1967 when she fell in love with Peter Shand Kydd, a married wallpaper heir, and the Spencers divorced in 1969. Mrs. Shand Kydd remarried in 1969 when the future princess was 8.

Diana stayed with her father after the split and decades later told Andrew Morton, author of the 1992 book, " Diana, Her True Story, " that her childhood was very unhappy and unstable.

" The biggest disruption was when Mummy decided to leg it. That ' s the vivid memory we have the four of us (including her brother and two sisters). . . . People took sides. Various people didn ' t speak to each other. For my brother and I, it was a very wish-washy and painful experience, " Diana was quoted as saying.

Mrs. Shand Kydd acknowledged she sometimes had a turbulent relationship with her famous daughter.

Testifying two years ago at the theft trial of Diana ' s former butler, Paul Burrell, Mrs. Shand Kydd said she had not spoken to Diana in the last four months of her life and that the princess had returned her letters unopened.

Diana and her companion, Dodi Fayed, were killed Aug. 31, 1997, in a crash in a Paris tunnel as their Mercedes was pursued by paparazzi.

Mrs. Shand Kydd is survived by her son, Earl Spencer; and daughters Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McQuorquodale. Her stepson, Adam Shand Kydd, 49, died in April in Cambodia from an overdose of sleeping pills.