BREAKING NEWS: Earl Spencer in tears as he’s confronted by BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
Diana, Princess of Wales’s brother shows emotion during interview over controversial new book
Earl Spencer was tearful during the interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg (Image: BBC)
Earl Spencer was left in tears in an emotional moment during an interview with Laura Kuenssberg. The BBC presenter travelled to the Althorp Estate, in Northamptonshire, to meet Diana, Princess of Wales’s brother and ask him about his new book on his sister.
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister makes several sensational claims about the Royal Family around the time of Diana’s death, including that King Charles said she “would soon be forgotten”. Buckingham Palace has denied that the King, who was Prince of Wales at the time, said those words. When asked about his memories of Diana from their childhood growing up together, Earl Spencer choked up.
“My memories of Diana tend to be from our happy childhood days, in our home before this, which was Park House in Sandringham, in Norfolk,” he recalled.
“Even though we had the rupture of my parents’ divorce, it was such a happy home. Just those days there, carefree days … not an instance, but a period of life.”
Earl Spencer admitted: “It really breaks me up when I look at old photographs of Diana as a child, and then think what happened to her, it’s terribly sad.”
Kuenssberg then asked: “How much do you miss her?”
He replied: “Every day. That’s the thing with sibling loss, you never get over it.”
His eyes were red and filled with tears as Kuenssberg left a long pause, but he did not add anything else.
Earl Spencer reflected on his childhood growing up with Diana (Image: Getty)
Elsewhere in the interview, Kuenssberg asked whether the public should believe him or King Charles over the “soon to be forgotten” claim. Earl Spencer insisted he was “telling the truth”.
Kuenssberg said: “Well, let me read you exactly what the Palace has said. They said: ‘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.’ The King is plainly furious. Buckingham Palace almost never issues any kind of statement.”
But Earl Spencer replied: “Well, is he furious, or is he embarrassed? Because I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said.
“I’ve only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life. I was hyper-alert to what he was saying, and those are precisely the words that he said. I promise that to you now. Genuinely, that is what he said. I don’t hear him saying he didn’t say that.”
