Edward John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer (January 24, 1924 - March 29, 1992) was born at 24 Sussex Square, London, England, the son of Albert Edward John Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer (1892-1975) and his wife, the former Cynthia Elinor Beatrix Hamilton (1897-1972), daughter of the 3rd Duke of Abercorn.

On June 1, 1954 in Westminster Abbey he married Frances Ruth Burke-Roche, daughter of Edmund Maurice Burke-Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy (1885-1955). They had five children:

• Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia (March 15, 1955), who married Neil Edmund McCorquodale, a distant cousin of Raine, Countess Spencer
• Cynthia Jane (February 11, 1957), who married Sir Robert Fellowes, later Baron Fellowes
• John, who died within 10 hours of his birth on January 12, 1960
• Diana Frances Spencer (1961-1997), first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales
• Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer (May 20, 1964), who married Victoria Lockwood, then Caroline Freud (the latter formerly wife of Matthew Freud )

In April 1969 the Spencers were divorced on the grounds of Frances's adultery with Peter Shand Kydd (she was named as the other woman in a divorce action brought by Janet Shand Kydd). Lord Spencer won a bitter custody battle for the children.

In 1976, Lord Spencer married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the former wife of Gerald Legge, 9th Earl Dartmouth . Her mother was the romance novelist Barbara Cartland.

Lord Spencer died at Humana Hospital, Wellington, London.