THE 71-year-old mother of the Countess of Wessex, who lives in a Kent village, is battling cancer, it has been revealed.

Mary Rhys-Jones is said to be in good spirits following an operation at the Kent and Sussex Hospital at Tunbridge Wells.

She lives with her husband, Christopher, at Benenden, in the Weald of Kent. The couple previously lived in the nearby village of Brenchley where their daughter and son, David, grew up.

The Countess is reported to have visited her mother in hospital last weekend.