'My least favourite day,' writes Princess Diana's brother on 29th anniversary of her death
· Toronto Sun
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It’s hard to believe that Monday marked the 29th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.
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Her brother, Charles Spencer, certainly didn’t forget to pay tribute to his famous sister on his Instagram account.
“31 August. My least favourite day,” Spencer, 62, wrote on his Instagram account on Monday.
Alongside his comment were four photos of a flag flying at half-staff over Diana’s childhood home at Althorp House in the U.K., where she is buried.
He and his siblings, including Diana and his sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, grew up at the palatial home, according to PARADE.
“The People’s Princess,” as she was called, died on Aug. 31, 1997 at the age of 36 after sustaining life-threatening injuries in a car crash in Paris while her vehicle was being chased by paparazzi through a tunnel.
Also killed were her reported boyfriend, Dodi al Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul, while bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived.
Her survivors are her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, whom she shared with King Charles III.
At the time of her death, they were 15 and 12, respectively, and they — along with King Charles, Prince Phillip and Charles Spencer — solemnly walked behind her coffin during its procession in London with the words ‘Mummy’ spelled out by Harry on a white piece of paper on top of it.
The family’s decision to have her two young sons be part of the public walk was a contentious one at the time, but both admitted later it was the right one.
Diana’s sons ultimately glad to be part of funeral procession
William told the BBC documentary, Diana, 7 Days that “it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But we were overwhelmed by how many people turned out; it was just incredible. There was that balance between duty and family, and that’s what we had to do.”
Harry added, “Genuinely, I don’t have an opinion on whether that was right or wrong. I am glad I was part of it. Looking back on it now, I am very glad I was part of it.”
Spencer also recently announced a new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister , which will be released Sept. 22. according to US Weekly.
“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 noted in a press release.
“As with my eulogy, I want to speak on Diana’s behalf and do so in an openly positive way.”
Spencer said he wanted the book to appeal to those who grew up with Diana and those who did not.
“I hope this book will be of interest to the many who still cherish the memory of Diana when she was alive,” he said.
“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: 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 far better place, despite exiting the stage while still so young.”
Charles Spencer said he ended up doing Diana’s eulogy by default
The 9th Earl Spencer previously shared some insight into his eulogy – which he called “a profoundly emotional moment” – at Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey on Sept. 6. 1997, saying he initially planned a “very different” tribute.
The funeral was televised live, drawing a global audience of two billion.
“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,” Spencer told the “Rosebud” podcast in October 2025.
He said he got an “awful feeling” he’d be the one to speak and at first wrote a “very traditional eulogy,” but then realized that was “not who [Diana] was.”
In the end, Spencer said he wrote the final speech “in an hour and a half,” with a message about her sons being front and centre.
“She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys, William and Harry, from a similar fate, and I do this here, Diana, on your behalf,” he said at the time.
“We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.”
“And beyond that,” he continued, “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.”
Harry’s homecoming
Harry more recently moved back to the U.K. with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children after six years away from royal life in California.
Princess Diana rests at Althorp Park’s Pleasure Garden on a serene island in the Round Oval lake, and Spencer told PEOPLE in 2017 that he finds comfort knowing Prince William and Prince Harry have a tranquil, private place to visit their mother.
“I never go to Diana with them. It’s very much their time there,” Spencer said. “But I think it’s very important for them to be there with her. It is, luckily, very tranquil here, and they can come and go as they wish whenever they want. And that’s very lovely for me to know that.”