Earl Spencer Set To “Tell The Truth” About Princess Diana — But What He’s Revealing Has Royal Fans Asking Questions
Earl Spencer will publish a book “to tell the truth” about his sister Diana, the late Princess of Wales, while correcting the “untruths that have become accepted” since her death.
Swan Song: Diana My Sister will be released in September ahead of the 30th anniversary of the royal’s death in Paris, next year.
Earl Spencer, the younger brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, will publish a book next month promising to “tell the truth” about the royal’s life. UK Press via Getty Images
Diana was just 36 when she died. She would have turned 65 on July 1 this year.
In a statement announcing the book, Earl Spencer said he had been “inundated yet again” with requests for interviews about Diana as the 30th anniversary of her death approaches in 2027.
“This has convinced me to write down my own thoughts and memories, once and for all, rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others, many of which are based on untruths that have become accepted over time,” Earl Spencer, 62, said.
“The aim of this book is to tell the truth about Diana from her brother’s perspective, just as I attempted to do when speaking at her funeral,” he said, referring to the eulogy he delivered in Westminster Abbey in 1997.
“As with my eulogy, I want to speak on Diana’s behalf and do so in an openly positive way.”
Earl Spencer used his eulogy to deliver a passionate, and emotional speech, in which he criticised the media, calling his sister the “most hunted person of the modern age”.
He also pledged to protect Prince William and Prince Harry and prevent them suffering a similar fate. Diana’s sons were just 15 and 12 when their mother was killed.
Earl Spencer walked with Prince William and Prince Harry, and then-Prince Charles, and the Duke of Edinburgh, behind the princess’ coffin at her funeral in 1997. Getty
“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,” he said at the time.
Last month, Prince Harry took his two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, and wife Meghan, to visit Diana’s burial site on his uncle’s family estate, Althorp, in Northamptonshire.
Earl Spencer, who is Diana’s younger brother, said he hoped the book would reach a new generation of readers who were born after the princess’ time.
Earl Spencer’s book will mark the first time he has spoken at length about his late sister Diana in the 30 years since her death. Twitter
“I hope this book will be of interest to the many who still cherish the memory of Diana when she was alive, and I would be delighted if those too young to remember her in her heyday feel − after reading this − that they ‘get’ who she really was,” he said.
“A one-off dynamic character, full of love, charisma and self-doubt, who gave life a hell of a go, and left the world a better place, despite exiting the stage while still so young.”
Diana was born into the aristocratic Spencer family in 1961 and married the heir to the British throne in 1981. They had two sons before divorcing in 1996.
Earl Spencer and his two sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes joined Prince Harry and Prince William for the unveiling of a memorial statue of Diana in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in 2021. AP
The princess died in August 1997 in a car crash in Paris alongside her partner, Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur Henri Paul.
Swan Song, which will be published on September 22, will mark the first time that Earl Spencer has spoken at length about his sister, according to its publisher, Penguin Michael Joseph, a division of Penguin Random House UK.
“This is a book of historic importance, telling as it does the story of one of the twentieth century’s most iconic and culturally significant figures, but it is also unique in being written by Earl Spencer, from a vantage point of such intimacy,” Daniel Bunyard, publishing director, said.
The Queen, Diana, Camilla and Kate
The book is expected to cover the princess’ childhood, her unhappy marriage to the then-Prince of Wales, now King Charles, and the aftermath of her death in Paris.
It is also expected to provide an account of how the royal family dealt with the public’s grief and anger following the Diana’s death.
In Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, published in 2023, he claimed there was a heated debate about whether he and Prince William should walk behind their mother’s coffin during the funeral procession.
Harry said Earl Spencer “flew into a rage” saying: “You cannot force these children to walk behind their mother’s coffin. It’s a barbarity!”
