Princess Diana’s Brother Honors Heartbreaking Funeral Vow by Supporting Prince Harry During UK Trip
Princess Diana‘s brother, Charles Spencer, honored the heartbreaking vow he made at his sister’s 1997 funeral by supporting Prince Harry during his recent trip to the United Kingdom. Spencer remained true to his remarks of 27 years prior by standing up for his nephew when the royal family did not during an Invictus Games celebration.
Princess Diana’s brother reunited with Prince Harry at the Invictus Games ceremony
Prince Harry returned to the United Kingdom, sans his wife Meghan Markle, to attend a service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. Harry helped found this sporting competition for injured servicemen and women.
Senior royals did not attend the celebration. Instead, King Charles, whose cancer treatment is ongoing, met members of the public at a Buckingham Palace garden party a little over two miles away.
Once inside, Harry warmly greeted his uncle, Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer, who was sitting behind him in the cathedral. Diana’s sister, Lady Jane Fellowes, was also in attendance, reports Page Six. In addition, Harry’s cousins Lara Spencer, Louis Spencer, and George McCorquodale were also spotted entering the event at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Prince Harry’s spokesperson said: “In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it, unfortunately, will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full program. The duke, of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
The heartbreaking vow that Earl Spencer made at Princess Diana’s funeral
Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, made a speech honoring his sister during her 1997 funeral that was both fiery and heartbreaking. After speaking of his sister, Spencer made a vow to her sons, Princes William and Harry, in front of the royal family.
“[Diana] would want us today to pledge ourselves to protect her beloved boys, William and Harry, from a similar fate, and I do this here, Diana, on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair,” Spencer said.
“And beyond that, on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving 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. William and Harry, we all cared desperately for you today. We are all chewed up with sadness at the loss of a woman who was not even our mother. How great your suffering is, we cannot even imagine.”
Has the Spencer family been involved in Harry’s life since Diana’s death?
Royal watchers may not know the extent of Prince Harry, Prince William, and Princess Diana’s family’s private relationship. However, the clan has publicly supported Diana’s sons a handful of times since her 1997 death.
Charles [Earl] Spencer was the only member of the Spencer family to walk alongside Princes William and Harry, their father, then-Prince Charles, and grandfather, Prince Philip, behind their mother’s coffin.
In 2006, the Spencer family joined the royal family at the opening of a fountain built in Diana’s memory in Hyde Park. Diana’s family attended Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in 2011. Lady Jane Fellows, Diana’s sister, gave a reading at Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018.
Fellows and her sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, were among the guests to attend the christening of Harry’s son, Prince Archie, in July 2019. Sarah, Jane, and Charles Spencer were among the attendees when Harry and William unveiled a statue of Diana in the Kensington Palace Gardens in July 2021 to mark their mother’s 60th birthday.
In the epilogue of his book Spare, Harry writes of when he took his wife, Meghan Markle, to see his mother’s grave at her childhood home, Althorp, near the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2022. Harry writes that he and Meghan got into a boat to row across to the private island on the estate that marks Diana’s final resting place, and Spencer helped push them off.
Prince Harry reportedly remains estranged from his father, King Charles, Prince William, and his wife, Kate Middleton.
