Earl Spencer has shared his frustrations with strangers telling him “where they were when Diana died”, revealing he finds hearing their stories “difficult”.
The Earl, Princess Diana’s younger brother, discussed how he becomes “fundamentally unhappy” on the anniversary of her death every year.
Speaking to Gyles Brandreth on his podcast, Rosebud, he said: “I tell you what I do find quite difficult… it probably sounds ungracious, but occasionally total strangers come up and feel they must tell me where they were when they heard she died.
“I’m sure that’s helpful to them, it’s not entirely helpful to everyone else.”
He explained that he was recently conversing with an American woman, who “clutched” him and “said that I may have thought I grew up with Diana, but actually she did in South Dakota”.
Charles Spencer stated: “You just have to smile, it doesn’t matter.”
He said that he and his seven children cut flowers and visited Diana’s grave at the family’s Althorp estate to mark the day of her passing.
Her final resting place is in the grounds of the Northamptonshire estate, which was the Princess of Wales’s family home.
The Earl said he becomes ‘fundamentally unhappy’ on the anniversary of his sister’s death
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He told Mr Brandreth: “I try and be really busy on August 31 because it’s just terribly sad.”
When discussing his sister’s “extraordinary” lasting impact and legacy, the Earl compared it to picking parts from a horoscope that suit you.
He said: “It’s different things to different people, particularly to women of a similar age. They really invested their lives in hers.
“Maybe they had an unhappy marriage, maybe they battled an eating disorder.
Princess Diana’s brother shared how people ‘really invested their lives in hers’
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“There’s plenty of Diana to look into and take your bit out of – almost like a horoscope, you can make it make sense for you.”
The 61-year-old said he spoke to the creator of Downton Abbey and good friend Lord Fellowes about Diana’s appeal, which he suggested was partly down to “something unhappy” about her.
He explained: “Of course, she married into the Royal Family, she was beautiful and very charismatic, but he also said ‘like the great film stars, there was something unhappy in there that really triggered an emotional response’.”
The Earl reiterated his disagreement with plans to have Prince William and Prince Harry walk behind Diana’s coffin during the funeral procession.
The Earl disagreed with Prince William and Prince Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin
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PAWilliam was 15 at the time, and Harry was 12, as they found themselves walking down The Mall in front of the entire world, accompanied by the Earl who objected to the proceedings, but was told that it “was happening”.
He clarified that while the late Prince Philip took charge of the events, it was not his idea for the young pair to walk behind the coffin.
The Earl said: “[Philip] was brilliant. He took charge. I was very anti-it. I thought it was terrible. But he took charge of it. And it was still the wrong decision. It wasn’t his decision to do it.
“But, actually, on the day, he was a calming presence. He was a very good grandfather and did his best in impossible circumstances. I have to say, as an uncle, I didn’t think it should happen because I just thought they were too young. But I was told by Buckingham Palace that it was happening.”
