Diana’s brother says he is an ‘eyewitness to history’ in his memoir. But is he a reliable narrator?

September 24, 2026 — 7:30pm

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

“Can you imagine anybody making a profit out of their brother or sister’s death? I mean, it’s so low, it’s inconceivable … I’ll never profit from Diana’s death.”

So vowed Earl Charles Spencer in the 1998 documentary Diana: My Sister, the Princess, broadcast weeks before he would open the area near the former Princess of Wales’ grave at Althorp Estate to the public for £9.50 ($35.80 today) a ticket.

At the time, Spencer’s spokeswoman said any profit would be donated to the now-defunct Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. No such promises have been made regarding the proceeds from Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, the controversial memoir, released this week. Promoting the book on Instagram, Spencer wrote: “At heart, this is a brother’s simple tribute to an extraordinary sister.”

The dissonance between Spencer’s “I’ll never profit from Diana’s death” declaration less than a year after the 36-year-old princess’s tragic death in a Paris car crash, and his reported £750,000 to £1 million ($1.4 to $1.9 million) book deal advance – plus potential £10 million ($18.8 million) earnings should the memoir be popular in the United States – almost 30 years on, is one reason critics have suggested Spencer’s new venture is a tawdry cash grab.

Another is that in his book, Spencer offers up unflattering anecdotes – such as Diana slapping their father after his secret marriage to Raine, former Countess of Dartmouth, and later shoving her stepmother down a carpeted staircase.

Bashir, royalty and childhood trauma: the revelations from Charles Spencer’s book

These brotherly memories have been republished by the same media he denounced in the searing eulogy delivered to those inside Westminster Abbey........

© The Sydney Morning Herald