Princess Diana’s brother says he doesn’t like when people say where they were when sister died
Earl Spencer said it was hard for him to have strangers tell him where they were when his sister Princess Diana died.
Charles Spencer expressed his sadness on author Gyles Brandreth’s podcast: rosebudWhile sharing how “fundamentally unhappy” she had become each year on the anniversary of his death.
He said: “Let me tell you something I find quite difficult… it probably sounds discourteous but every now and then complete strangers come along and think they should tell me where they are when they hear he has died.
“I’m sure it’s helpful to them, it’s not entirely helpful to everyone else.”
The British peer gave the example of an American woman who stated that she grew up with Diana in South Dakota.
“He held me close to his broad chest and said I might have thought I was growing up with Diana, but that’s actually what happened in South Dakota,” she said.
He added: “You just have to smile, it doesn’t matter.”
The Count said he and his seven children cut flowers and visited Diana’s grave to mark her death at her family’s Althorp estate. He was buried in the grounds of the Northamptonshire manor where he grew up.
“I’m trying to stay really busy on August 31st because it’s really sad,” he told Mr. Brandreth.
He reflected on Diana’s “extraordinary” legacy and likened it to choosing parts of a horoscope that suit you.
“It’s different things for different people, especially women of a similar age. They really devoted their lives to hers,” he said. “Maybe they were in an unhappy marriage, maybe they were struggling with an eating disorder. There’s a lot of Diana to dissect and pull your own; almost like a zodiac sign, you can make it meaningful to you.”
Lord Fellowes, the earl’s friend who founded Downton Abbey, had told him that Diana’s appeal stemmed in part from “something unhappy” about her.
“Of course she married into the Royal family, she was very beautiful and charismatic, but she also said ‘like big movie stars, there was something unhappy there that really triggered an emotional response,'” he told Mr Brandreth.
Earl Spencer spoke out earlier this year after a building at the Princess’ former home was targeted in a suspected arson attack in May.
Firefighters rushed through the night to the scene of a blaze at one of the farmhouses on Althorp Manor, site of the stately Grade I-listed home where the late Princess of Wales grew up.
Posting photos of the massive blaze on social media, Earl said he was “stunned” to learn the farmhouse was “apparently burnt down by vandals last night”.
The late princess’s younger brother stated that the building was empty at the time and said: “It’s very sad that everyone thought this was a fun thing.”
