Charles Spencer has opened up about his late sister, Princess Diana, her final resting place, and the family tensions surrounding her life. However, he appeared reluctant to discuss Prince Harry’s ongoing rift with the royal family. In a new PEOPLE interview, Spencer spoke at length about Diana and his memoir “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” but briefly shut down a question comparing her story with Harry’s memoir “Spare.”
Charles Spencer refuses to discuss Prince Harry’s rift with the royal family in new interview
Charles Spencer took PEOPLE to Althorp, the Spencer family estate in Northamptonshire, where Princess Diana lies buried on an island in the Round Oval lake. The estate covers around 13,000 acres and remains closely tied to Diana’s memory.
On a crisp fall day, Spencer paddled across the lake to the island, where his sister’s lead-lined casket rests beneath a canopy of trees. He described the spot as peaceful, where he could remember Diana while enjoying the beauty of nature around him. “When I’m on the island, I feel sadness, of course, but also calm,” Spencer told PEOPLE. “Diana’s graveside is a very calm and beautiful place.” “She’s home,” he added.
During the interview, Spencer also addressed the long-running conspiracy theories surrounding Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997. Spencer said he believed the crash resulted from a tragic coincidence and stressed that he would speak openly if he had reason to believe otherwise. The conversation then shifted to another royal family controversy when Spencer faced questions about Andrew Morton’s 1992 biography of Diana.
Diana secretly worked with Morton on the book, and the interviewer asked Spencer whether he saw similarities between that situation and Harry’s decision to release his 2023 memoir, “Spare.” Spencer immediately made it clear that he did not want to spend much time discussing Harry. “Is it all right if we don’t do too much Harry stuff?” he asked. After the interviewer agreed, Spencer responded, “Thank you.”
In his memoir, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” Spencer looks back on Diana’s extraordinary life and their relationship as siblings. He also examines the difficult experiences surrounding her marriage and her relationship with the royal family.