At a glance…
- Charles Spencer, 9th Earl of Spencer and brother of the late Princess Diana, has penned a memoir: Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.
- As extracts are released across the world, Earl Spencer sits down with The Weekly at Althorp House.
- Below is an extract from our exclusive interview with Earl Spencer. Read the full feature in the November issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly; on sale from 5 October 2026.
Sinking into an armchair in the library of Diana, Princess of Wales’ ancestral home at Althorp House, her younger brother, Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, has the look of a man under pressure.
The publication of the Earl’s new memoir Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, timed to mark next year’s 30th anniversary of her death, has ignited a firestorm of claims, denials, and recriminations, with the Court of King Charles III foremost among the book’s assailants.
“Well, I’ve been through a lot worse,” he says. “Particularly 29 years ago, when I gave my eulogy at Diana’s funeral.”
That famous, thunderous address, full of rage and reproach, and delivered from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey, was the beginning of a war between the noble families of Windsor and Spencer that has never healed.
Even viewed through the rosiest of spectacles, it is clear that Charles despises the King, and believes that much of the royal establishment is a nest of vipers. I was in the Abbey in 1997 when he delivered his famous eulogy, vowing to Diana that the Spencers – her “blood family” would protect her sons, William and Harry, from a slavish attachment to royal life.
In our exclusive interview with Earl Spencer, we cover a myriad of topics. From what it was like to grow up with Diana tap-dancing in their marble foyer, to how she was impacted by the collapse of their parents’ marriage, and her learning difficulties in her youth, plus the impact she had on the world and the ever-present question of, “What if?”
“Diana was never going to be easily forgotten. What I’ve learnt through the last 30 years is how adored she remains,” Charles adds. “I still have people – it could be in Australia, it could be anywhere, coming up to me with tears in their eyes talking about Diana, so that’s the answer here: she was never going to be forgotten.”
Read the full exclusive interview in the November issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly; on sale from 5 October 2026. Subscribe to the magazine here.
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is on sale now.
