Princess Diana’s Brother Charles Spencer Says He Visits Her Gravesite ‘Pretty Much Every Day’

Mar. 15, 2025

Amanda Edwards/WireImage ; Bettmann

Princess Diana’s brotherCharles Spencersaid that he visits his older sister’s gravesite “pretty much every day.”

Spencer, 60, made the revelation on an Oct. 15 episode ofGood Morning Britain. Diana — who lost her life at age 36 after a Paris car accident on Aug. 31, 1997 — is buried at the Spencer family ancestral home, Althorp, which Spencer has been custodian of since 1992, after the death of their father, John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer. The former Princess of Wales is buried on an island at an ornamental lake known as The Round Oval, nestled within Althorp Park’s Pleasure Garden on the property.

“Last week, one of her closest childhood friends came and was on the island. And that was so nice,” said Spencer, who is 9th Earl Spencer.

David Jones - PA Images/PA Images/Getty

“I’m sure pretty much everyone watching this program has had trauma in their family at some point,” he said onGood Morning Britain. “And, like everyone else, you sort of get used to it without it ever going away.”

There was once a bridge in place so that visitors could access the island, but it was later removed because of security reasons,Prince Harrywrote in his memoir,Spare, released in 2023.

“The bridge had been removed, to give my mother privacy, to keep intruders away,” he wrote.

An aerial view of the burial site of Diana, Princess of Wales on Sept. 9, 2006. The Round Oval lake is located in the Althorp Estate, home to the Spencer family.David Goddard/Getty

David Goddard/Getty

Elsewhere in the book, Harry, 40, detailed bringing wifeMeghan Markleto Diana’s gravesite for the first time in 2022 — which marked the 25th anniversary of her death.

“No visit to this place was ever easy, but this one… twenty-fifth anniversary,” Prince Harry wrote inSpare. “And Meg’s first time. At long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum.”

“We hesitated, hugging, and then I went first. I placed flowers on the grave. Meg gave me a moment, and I spoke to my mother in my head, told her I missed her, asked her for guidance and clarity,” he continued. “Feeling that Meg might also want a moment, I went around the hedge, scanned the pond. When I came back, Meg was kneeling, eyes shut, palms against the stone.”

“I asked, as we walked back to the boat, what she’d prayed for,” Prince Harry added. “Clarity, she said. And guidance.”

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a Creative Industries and Business Reception on Oct. 2, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Diana, Princess Of Wales at Luanda Airport, Angola, on the start of her four day visit to Red Cross projects in Angola.Chris Jackson/Getty Images; Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

The couple had traveled to the U.K. from their home base of California (where they relocated in 2020 after stepping back as senior members of the royal family) for a series of engagements with some of their longstanding charities. A week after the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death,Queen Elizabethdied at age 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, hours after her doctors announced they were “concerned” for her health on Sept. 8, 2022.

Prince Harry said that Meghan messaged him first on the social media site, and they immediately connected over a shared love of Africa, as his feed was filled with photos from the continent (a revelation the couple first made inHarry & Meghan, which debuted on Netflix in December 2022).

“Eventually, we exchanged phone numbers, and mitigated the conversation over to text, going late into the night," Harry wrote inSpare, adding that he was “texting like a teenager” through the following day.

“It occurred to me how uncanny, how surreal, how bizarre, that this marathon conversation should have begun on July 1, 2016. My mother’s fifty-fifth birthday,” he added.

Prince William and Prince Harry arrive for the unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, on what would have been her 60th birthday on July 1, 2021 in London, England.Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Both Harry and his older brotherPrince Williamcontinue to keep the memory of their beloved mother alive, specifically through The Diana Award, the only award named in her honor, Diana’s brother Charles Spencer said, perHello!.

“They both recognize this is something of their mother’s and they both support that, and that’s all that really matters in this situation,” he said.

He added, “It’s really extraordinary for me, as her brother, to think of the impact Diana continues to have, and it’s a source of great family pride for us that yes, she has been gone for over a quarter of a century now.”

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After announcing his divorce from his third wife, Countess Karen Spencer, in June, news broke this week that Spencer’s current partner, Dr. Cat Jarman, was suing the countess, allegingmisuse of private information, according to reports.

The misuse of private information claim was filed on Oct. 10, according to theTelegraph. No further details are available.

source: people.com