Princess Diana's brother says Prince Harry has been "very supportive" of a eulogy he gave at her funeral that was famous for its veiled criticisms of the monarchy. Charles Spencer also said he could not recall Prince William making any comments about the funeral oration he gave in 1997. In the speech, which was delivered in front of the royals, he vowed to ensure that Diana's sons would "not simply" be "immersed by duty and tradition." His words were received at the time as a swipe at royal protocol in defense of his sister, whose divorce from the now-King Charles III had seen her stripped of her HRH status.
Spencer was asked in an interview what his nephews thought of his comments. Clearly, Spencer does not know William's opinion, so it is possible that the future king is privately just as supportive as Harry. However, Harry appears to be the more talkative of the brothers about an oration that is famous overwhelmingly for its criticism of monarchy, though Spencer also said much about the media hounding of his sister.
That distinction has increased relevance in the buildup to the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, in August 2027, when Harry is expected to release a tribute documentary, though the exact format of the project has not yet been decided. There are no known projects about William. Diana's funeral, on September 6, 1997, six days after she died in a car crash in Paris, came after heated arguments with Charles, who was then a prince and Diana's ex-husband, according to Spencer's new book, Swan Song.
Spencer said in the book that he opposed a decision to have William and Harry walk behind Diana's coffin and, in the heat of their disagreement, Charles had said: "Rest assured we'll forget her soon enough." He also wrote that Charles had questioned the Spencer family's sense of duty. The palace issued a strongly worded statement questioning Spencer's "reason," "judgement" and "memory." Spencer said the argument had influenced his funeral oration, in which he addressed Diana: "On behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned. "We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage them in their royal role, but we, like you, recognize the need for them to experience as many different aspects of life as possible to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead.
I know you would have expected nothing less from us." He finished with: "Above all, we give thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to be able to call my sister, the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana, whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds." Newsweek has been told that Prince Harry is considering a range of options for a project paying tribute to Diana to mark the 30th anniversary of her death. Reports in the U.K. press suggest it will be a documentary and that Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle have a "first look" deal with Netflix, through which the streamer gets first refusal on shows they make. If Harry does opt for a documentary, either a series or a film, the move could exacerbate tensions with William, who in 2017, on the 20th anniversary of Diana's death, said the brothers would not open up about losing their mother again.
Spencer was interviewed by Tina Brown, at St. Peter’s Chelsea, in New York City, on September 29. Brown asked whether he might appear in any show or film Harry made about Diana and said: “Yeah, he may well be, but I don’t know where I can contribute to that sort of thing." He described himself as “just an elderly uncle who’s there if needed” and said he did not tell Harry about the contents of his book when the Sussexes stayed with him at Althorp, the Spencer family's ancestral home, in Northamptonshire, over the summer.
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