Charles Spencer has revealed behind-the-scenes details from one of the most difficult days of his life. In his new book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, the 9th Earl Spencer shares some of his most intimate memories of Princess Diana, and he also shared the one member of the Royal Family who “did really well” handling the late royal’s 1997 funeral.
Speaking to People magazine about his controversial new book, Spencer said that Prince Philip instructed Prince William, Prince Harry and the now-King about what they “must not” do during Diana’s funeral procession.
“Prince Philip took charge, quite rightly,” Spencer told the media outlet. “He was brilliant that day. I mean, he’s a controversial figure, but he did really well that day.”
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(From left) Prince Philip, Prince WIlliam, Charles Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles walk behind Diana’s coffin on September 6, 1997.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Spencer, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and William and Harry stand by the entrance to Westminster Abbey as Princess Diana’s coffin is carried into the building.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister
“He was a military man and he said, ‘Just look straight ahead. You must not look left and right,’” Spencer continued. Diana’s brother joined The King (then Prince Charles) and his young nephews William and Harry to walk behind her coffin, and Prince Philip offered to take part in the procession alongside the boys, who were just 12 and 15.
Spencer noted that they listened to the late Duke of Edinburgh’s advice, “but that made for a very bizarre experience, actually, because you could feel this tsunami of grief coming in from both sides and the crowd reacting differently as we walked along.”
He explained it was “very hard to feel that amount of emotion and not to look at it,” adding “you’d walk through maybe 100 steps and you’d just hear sobbing. And then another stretch where people would be shouting out really lovely but sad things to William and Harry, or about Diana.”
Earl Spencer said that Prince Philip (far left) “took charge” on the day of the funeral.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Earl Spencer revealed that he pushed for his nephews to be left out of the funeral procession, but received pushback from Prince Charles at the time. In Swan Song, the earl wrote that words were exchanged during a heated phone call, and the now-King told him, “we’ll forget her soon enough.”
The comments caused Buckingham Palace to issue a rare rebuttal, with The King’s statement reading, “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.”
In the end, the boys were made to walk behind their mother’s coffin. In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry noted that his uncle “raised hell” over the matter, but Earl Spencer told People how he regretted not being able to do more for his nephews.
“I just remember Harry was so small, this tiny dot of a boy walking in public behind his mother’s coffin,” he recalled in his interview with People. “It’s monstrous. It was awful at the time, and there was so little I could do.”
