Charles, the Earl Spencer, was Princess Diana’s younger brother and the only boy in a house full of sisters. He was closest to Diana in age, and they were pretty close throughout their lives, although they did have fights as well. The Earl Spencer has maintained relationships with his nephews, Prince William and Prince Harry, although I’ve always heard that Harry is the one closest to his Spencer relations, especially his Spencer cousins. The Earl rarely comments on either of his nephews and he’s never participated in any of the smears against the Sussexes – in fact, in the rare moments he says anything about the Sussexes, he’s defended them. There were even rumors that the Earl has visited Harry and Meghan in California. The Earl Spencer is currently promoting A Very Private School, all about the horrific abuse he suffered as a child in boarding school. When promoting the book with the BBC, he was asked some stuff about his nephews and their families.
The earl is loath now to talk specifically about the pressures on his two nephews and the rift between them. But after weeks of speculation online about the health of the current Princess of Wales, I asked if he thought today’s pressures were more potent.
He told me the situation had been more risky for Diana, saying, “I think it was more dangerous back in the day.”
Diana died when her car crashed as it entered an underground tunnel in Paris while it was being pursued by photographers.
“I think, if I look back to ’97 and Diana’s death, I think that was so shocking too – the circumstances of her death were so shocking, that it did make the industry that supports the paparazzi really consider more carefully what it could and couldn’t do,” he said. “Not because they had a moral judgement, but because it was unacceptable to the public.”
Looking back, Earl Spencer now thinks he used to take on the press, most famously through a powerful and eloquent eulogy at Diana’s funeral, because he had “an absolute hatred of injustice” influenced by his treatment at school.
Following weeks of conspiracy theories about his nephew’s wife, Catherine, he added: “I do worry about what happened to the truth.”
I agree that it was more “dangerous” for royals in the 1990s than today – the media environment was more dangerous and the paparazzi’s tactics were more dangerous. The danger today is that the media has been co-opted by the monarchy or vice versa – that they are in cahoots, that their symbiotic relationship is damaging to both parties morally and ethically. Which transitions to his comments about Kate – “I do worry about what happened to the truth.” Kate and William haven’t revealed the truth because they don’t have to, because a compromised, supplicating media system has simply bought the palace line.
The Earl Spencer also revealed that he’s doing EMDR therapy for his PTSD, which is a kind of therapy Prince Harry promoted and showed in his AppleTV series, The Me You Can’t See.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – MAY 19: Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer and Karen Spencer arrive at the wedding of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England.,Image: 515240626, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Earl Spencer at the unveiling of a statue of his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, on what would have been her 60th birthday. Picture date: Thursday July 1, 2021. .,Image: 619024591, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Earl Spencer is greeted by his nephews the Duke of Cambridge (right) and Duke of Sussex (left) as he arrives for unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, on what would have been her 60th birthday. Picture date: Thursday July 1, 2021. .,Image: 619024740, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- The Duke of Sussex with his uncle Earl Spencer, at the unveiling of a statue of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, on what would have been her 60th birthday.,Image: 619146847, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dominic Lipinski / Avalon
I mean, I worry what’s happened to the truth as well. But that’s on KP. They’re the ones hiding the truth and letting the conspiracy theories take hold.
I’m listening to the audio version of his book now and its very well done (I’m only about 90 minutes to 2 hours in.) I’m kind of surprised at how open he is about his family – early childhood, parents divorce, etc. It’s clear that writing the book was cathartic for him.
@Becks – Oooo let me know how you get on. I’ve been himming and ahhhing about whether to buy it. 🙂
@Becks, I bought & downloaded his book a couple of days ago after reading that you were listening to it. Glad to hear you’re enjoying it— I meant to ask you if it was worth getting.
He’s a surprisingly good narrator.
and I have been mispronouncing Althorp for decades LOL.
How is it correctly pronounced?
@Bay he pronounces it ‘alturp” or something close to that. The BBC link below though explains that both pronunciations are used.
All of Earl Spencer’s books (that I have read) are very well done.
Seems like an ongoing debate:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/122709.stm
Haha love it. Its not just me then.
The Earl is spot on about the truth in relation to whats going on with the RF at the moment and am glad he’s is getting therapy for what happened to him and hope he finds peace. I kinda suspect that he doesn’t see much of the Wails or gets along too well with Peggy hence why he’s always sticking up for the Sussex’s.
Especially after William trashed his mother in regards to her interview with Martin Bashir.
Earl Spencer has always “got on” with Harry.
With the regards to the rest of the House of Glücksburg clan, there is no love lost.
He’s not wrong about any of this. I’ve been reading about his horrible boarding school experiences, and I’m glad he’s getting help and talking about it. In the past, he’s sometimes seemed sketchy. These revelations probably contributed to that.
Lots of people are worried about where is the truth. The Windsor’s as a whole are liars and they do it to make themselves look good. Why tell the truth when you can lie and you have a gutter press backing you up on those lies.
I listened to an interview he did on NPR this weekend, talking about his private school experience, the abuse he and other kids were subject to. JFC. Of course the BBC would take a very serious conversation about emotional devastation and turn even that into a chance to ask about the Sussexes.
I find him similar to Harry in that both of them have had things in their past that they aren’t proud of but they own it and have moved on and tried to do better. It’s a lesson William should profit from. But won’t.
I appreciate both of them for writing books, so much. Let’s face it, both of them had horrific childhoods that deserve to be out in the open and talked about, but most importantly, learned from. Charles Spencer is talking about something that is STILL a very taboo subject, and I really hope this changes how much shame victims feel. If Princess Diana’s brother can talk about it and get therapy, anyone can.
I appreciated him defending Harry when a “journalist” insinuated that Harry was still thinking about his former girlfriend because the court case was about the years he was dating the ex. Thinking about it, he is literally the only relative of Harry who publicly defended him. That is crazy. I read that he doesn’t have a much relationship with his own children. Harry comes from broken families on both sides, so it is more sh*tty how much the firm and windsors tried to ruin his own little family.
Earl Spencer wasn’t at the weddings for either of his daughters from his first marriage that are married, at least 1 was walked down the aisle by their brother. I think he attended his oldest sons recentish graduation. I haven’t heard anything about his relationship with the kids from his second marriage and he also has a daughter from his current marriage
Unfortunately, The Truth is not something that KP believes the public is entitled to have. But people are coming out on the margins and questions are being asked. My biggest takeaway in this whole mess is my joy that Harry and Meghan escaped when they did. Can you even imagine what the BRF would have done to them to protect these KP fools? I imagine that if Harry doesn’t know what’s going on, he has major suspicions. While the Royal Rota keeps trying to throw our beautiful California Dreaming couple under the bus, they are too shortsighted to realize that had Harry REALLY wanted to expose the situation, he could. Plus remember all those pages of material that Harry refused to put into Spare. Harry truly is a good (great actually!) man and an example of what William should have aspired to be. But William doesn’t have an ounce of Harry’s character.
I know there are issues with how he treated Diana when she asked if she could move back to Althorp after the divorce and he allegedly told her it would bring too much “attention,” paparazzi, etc., and turned down her request. That will always be awful.
But IMO he’ll always be a rockstar for the angry speech directed at the Windsors that he made at her funeral, even if it was a bit hypocritical considering his own behavior. It was great watching him publicly humiliate that family with millions and millions of people watching live.
Sorry @Lorelei but, that’s another tabloid myth that is often offered as truth. He has a pinned Tweet on his Twitter page denying this story and has successfully forced journalists for printing this lie.
“Today, for the third time, a ‘paper has been forced by the Law to apologise for lying about me “depriving Diana of a home”. The guilty journalist this time? Janice Turner – aka @VictoriaPeckham
of @thetimes
Yellow journalism.
Link: https://twitter.com/cspencer1508/status/1420692474406780928
Janice Turner started this lie and Lady Colin Campbell picked it up and ran with it.
He’s close to most of his children. He speaks about some of them occasionally. I think he may be estranged from the daughter that married the much older man-he was not at their wedding. But that has been a few years. I think he really tries to guard their privacy-which considering how his family has been mistreated by the press for most of his life, makes sense.
That story was not true. Pretty sure he successfully sued Piers Morgan to show that it was a lie.
He’s publicly pushed back on that story, more than once, stating he did offer other properties to her, apparently in line with police advice.
That speech was something else.
I agree with others, I think he and Diana’s two sisters are much closer with H&M. I still think that is who H stays with when in the UK.
I will never, ever forget the roar of cheers and applause that came from the crowds outside of the church when his eulogy ended. That moment really was something else, it was like the public at large was expelling their rage that she was gone, and glad someone was finally fighting for Diana.
My mom was pretty strict about us using profanity (the occasional damn was allowed depending on the circumstance). She and I got up early to watch, and cry through, the entirety of Diana’s funeral. After Charles Spencer’s incredibly powerful speech, before I could stop myself I let out a “holy shit” and my mom quietly said “yeah”.
That, my friends, is how you know how stunning that speech was.
I don’t think I will be able to read his book, I’ve seen the reviews and it will be too much for me. I am glad people in power are speaking out on the horrors of the boarding schools system. No child should go through that. It is good to see he is getting therapy and telling us the type of treatment he is getting, it helps especially with all the lies and misinformation the British media printed when Prince Harry was sharing his journey. I think it is wonderful the Sussex’s still have the Spencer side of the family as the British relatives their children will know as they grow up.
I think Charles Spencer is a racist pig who gamely took up William’s concern about Harry marrying Meghan. Charles Spencer not only advised Harry against taking things too fast with Meghan, she was specifically disinvited from the private celebration of Diana’s life at Althorpe the summer before they were married (after she flew in for it). If I remember correctly, Charles and his wife were invited to Harry and Meghan’s wedding but not the reception following. I don’t think Harry and he are close anymore. And then, of course, there is the matter of the watermelon tableau:
https://twitter.com/PatriciaTreble/status/995304762995281921
May, you evidently haven’t read Spare. Billy Idle is the one who pulled their Uncle into this and so he talked with Harry. Harry didn’t blame him, because he knew where it came from. I think it would help you to put stories and tweets into perspective.
Harry was being generous. Just as Meghan was when she said that Kate was a “good person.” Charles would not have been roped into trying to dissuade Harry from rushing into marriage if he didn’t believe it himself. Also, if they were so close why was it just the Spencer aunts and not Harry’s uncle Charles that attended Archie’s christening? And, I’m sorry but I don’t think there’s any way you can put a racist tweet into “perspective.”
@May – forgive us, clearly you are on intimate terms with the Sussexes to the extent that you can speak for Harry and his relationship with his uncle. GMAFB.
I am sorry @jaded, I misspoke, I should have said: I THINK Harry was being generous. Everything I said is my opinion and/or speculation, two things that we are free to express here. Indeed, I was responding to Kaiser indicating that she thought that Harry and his Uncle Charles are close. Also, most of what I said is based on facts. Or, did Charles sneak into Archie’s christening without anyone’s knowledge? Or, did Charles’ deleting his aforementioned tweet make it less racist? Maybe Harry is okay with the things that his uncle did; however, it doesn’t make them right or mean that they are “close.”
One of the issues for Diana was the removal of her BRF security protection, which left her vulnerable. Same thing they did to Meghan and Harry. Someone on another post questioned why Meghan, an already rich woman, would do a lifestyle website – because security, which costs a fortune.
Diana dismissed and “got rid” of her BRF security protection herself as she thought they were spying on her for QEII and the gray-men at court. By this point Charles really did NOT care what Diana was doing in her private life.
Diana’s BRF security protection was not “removed”.
@BayTampaBay, you don’t know that. That’s what the firm and the tabloids and the royal reporters told us. Now, we know they can easily remove the security of the King’s son. Do you think that Charles would choose to give security to his ex wife while he is kind of a man who can throw his own son to the wolves?
Given what Harry’s been through, I think that was definitely a lie that Diana got rid of her police protection. If harry trusts his security then Diana would have. That came out after Diana’s death because the RF would have been held responsible otherwise.
Diana rejected security offered by the BRF. She did promise to use security when with her sons . Diana was a lovely women, yet very paranoid in that she did not want the BRF to know
about her private life. Ergo, Dodi’s drunken driver killed his passengers do to poor judgment. Sadly, Diana also was remiss in fastening her seatbelt. This is not to be conflated with Harry and Meghan’s bid for security.
“Diana rejected security offered by the BRF.”
@Ladydee2005, you don’t know that. That’s what the firm and the tabloids and the royal reporters told us. Now, we know they can easily remove the security of the King’s son. Do you think that Charles would choose to give security to his ex wife while he is kind of a man who can throw his own son to the wolves?
The car accident was caused by the paps who were chasing her & blinding the driver with lights. Harry talked about that in his book. The driver’s reported alcohol level was also a lie. Harry saw the government documents about the accident. The tabloids reported lies so that the public wouldn’t blame them chasing Diana. Why are you here repeating tabloid lies?
I have wondered about how truly close Harry is to his Spencer relatives. Given that both aunts attended both christenings and offered Meghan the Spencer family tiara for the wedding, the relationship with them looks to be very close.
It’s less clear to me about how close he is to his uncle. He attended the wedding but didn’t attend Archie’s christening. It’s not clear if he attended Lilibet’s christening in California.
WaPo had a review of this book last week. What was interesting was that the reviewer just couldn’t help herself in making digs against Harry throughout. She gave it a positive review overall. But her digs against Harry ruined the review for me.
💯. Good point about the offer of the tiara. The Press has always stated that it was an offer from the Spencer aunts, with no mention of Charles (who is the actual owner of the tiara).
If it was offered from the aunts then I think we can assume it was with Charles’ approval.
The most shocking thing about that to me was that the royals really weren’t going to offer M a tiara until they realized she was going to wear Diana’s.
@becks, Charles’ approval or acquiescence? Agree about how shocking the late-in-the-game offer of the tiara by the Queen was. Tin foil tiara time: was it Charles that let the Windsors know Meghan intended to wear the Spencer tiara? Because he disapproved and wanted them to step up with the offer of a different tiara?
I wish Harry had just said: no thanks, gran, we’ll just go with a different option.
I’m not sure about charles spencer either. I remember that Wank got Charles spencer to talk to harry about his concerns with megan. I mean, if he was really close with harry, he would have told wank to eff off. However, he is infinitely better than harry’s own brother and father, he at least kept his mouth shut. I think harry and charles spencer are fine with each other but not necessarily close. I also think charles spencer absolutely hates chuckles and would never help him on anything. He’s also probably written off Wank now for throwing Diana under the bus.
They were so desperate for him to say anything nice about Kate, or to say the press treated her worse than Diana, but he was having none of it. they got nothing, not even a quote they could twist 😂😂😂
The truth. The truth will destroy the royal family. The truth will elevate and vindicate Harry and Meghan.
I was hoping you would cover this.
How brave is he to to expose what should have been common knowledge to anyone paying attention to the English Boarding School situation.
Charles’ biography goes into detail about how cruelly he was treated at his school.
I can’t even believe that upper class spend so much money to send their children to places were they will be sexually and physically abused.
It boggles my mind, and maybe explains the Tory party