Princess Diana Had the Same Reaction as Princess Charlotte as a Child

Charles Spencer dropped plenty of royal bombshells in his new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, but one of the sweeter details involves a story about Princess Diana and their father, John Spencer.

Charles, who became the 9th Earl Spencer after his father’s death, wrote that when his parents were still together, they had many “points of difference.” Diana and Charles’s mother, Frances Shand Kydd, “preferred to be at home,” Earl Spencer said, but John loved to travel—and after one solo trip, a young Diana “snapped.”

Their father had been traveling in Turkey on his own, since Charles was sick and Frances decided to stay back with him. Explaining that the late earl “chose not to shave during his time away,” the Swan Song author continued that the family was surprised to welcome him home “with a reddish beard and moustache.”