Charles Spencer Takes a Subtle Swipe at King Charles in New Interview: ‘The Other Parent Was Alive’
This is not the first time Spencer has called out the royal family publicly since Diana's death.
It’s been more than 25 years since Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, delivered one of the most memorable eulogies in royal history. Reflecting on the same recently in an interview, the 9th Earl Spencer stirred controversy, as many claimed his words carried a subtle jibe at King Charles.
Appearing on Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, Spencer spoke about Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, and that's what stuck the most with royal observers. “I knew I’d been left at that stage — it had no legal standing — but I knew she’d left me as guardian of her sons,” Spencer said. Then with a deliberate understatement, he added, “Obviously, the other parent being alive meant nothing, but it meant something to me.” The phrase felt like a deliberate swipe at Charles, as there was no other reason for him to refer to the father of his nephews, not by name, but merely as 'the other parent.'
And, given the history between the Spencers and the Windsors, the dig wasn't a surprise. The first time the hostility towards the royals became apparent was at Diana's funeral in 1997, in Spencer's eviscerating speech, which paid tribute to her, but also made his feelings towards the royal family very clear.
Speaking to Diana, he referred to the Spencers as the 'blood family.' "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 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."
Spencer had also said, "Diana explained to me once that it was her innermost feelings of suffering that made it possible for her to connect with her constituency of the rejected... For all the status, the glamor, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others, so she could release herself from deep feelings of unworthiness, of which her eating disorders were merely a symptom."
Reflecting on the same, Spencer, in his recent interview, detailed the lead-up to Diana’s funeral in 1997, recalling the emotional chaos and the weight of what he felt was his duty. He shared how he flew back from Cape Town after Diana’s death, unsure who could deliver her eulogy. “I had a big, thick address book, and I thought, ‘I want to find someone who’s going to make the speech for her.’ And I got to Z and I hadn’t found anyone,” he said. In the end, it was his mother who settled the matter. “I called my mother and said, ‘I can’t think who’s going to give the eulogy. And I’ve got an awful feeling it’s going to have to be me.’ She said, ‘Well, it is going to be you. Your sisters and I have decided it.’”
Soon, what began, he said, as a very ‘traditional eulogy’ soon turned into an unconventional tribute. “I realized my job in that moment wasn’t to speak about Diana, but to speak for her,” he explained, describing how he rewrote the tribute on the eve of her funeral to reflect her voice, not just her life. This inherently meant a criticism of the institution he believed had failed her.
