Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer to tell all about her death to take on 'untruths'

Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer to tell all about her death to take on 'untruths' It has been announced that Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Princess Diana, will release a ‘historic’ new book next month about his sister’s life and what happened in the aftermath of her death Princess Diana’s brother is releasing a bombshell memoir about his sister and her untimely death that he says will take on ‘untruths’ and will contain "revelations that will draw considerable attention". Earl Spencer has written a new book about the former Princess of Wales, which will be released next month and has been called Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. The book, which has been described as “extraordinarily moving” and “remarkably candid”, is billed as telling Earl Spencer’s “astonishing story of his life with Diana and the tragic week of her death” - and will mark the first time he has spoken at length about her life. It is also expected to cover her childhood, her failed marriage to the now King Charles, as well as the tense days after she died following a car crash in Paris aged 36 in August 1997. At her funeral, Earl Spencer famously delivered a defiant eulogy at Westminster Abbey, which was broadcast to the world and drew applause, when he pointedly pledged Diana’s ‘blood family’ would protect Princes William and Harry, who were teenagers at the time. Announcing the book today, he said: “With the 30th anniversary of Diana’s tragic death on the skyline, I’ve been inundated yet again with requests for interviews about my sister. “This has convinced me to write down my own thoughts and memories, once and for all, rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others, many of which are based on untruths that have become accepted over time. “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. As with my eulogy, I want to speak on Diana’s behalf and do so in an openly positive way. “I hope this book will be of interest to the many who still cherish the memory of Diana when she was alive, and 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.” Since Diana’s funeral, which was attended by the Royal Family, it has emerged that there had been a row behind the scenes over whether her sons William and Harry should walk in her funeral procession. Ultimately they did, but in his 2023 memoir Spare, Harry wrote that his uncle, Earl Spencer, objected to it, calling it ‘barbarity’. On a podcast last year, Earl Spencer also revealed he finds it “difficult” when strangers recount where they were when his sister died and becomes “fundamentally unhappy” on the anniversary of her death. He told the Gyles Brandreth podcast Rosebud about Diana’s legacy: “It’s different things to different people, particularly to women of a similar age. They really invested their lives in hers. “Maybe they had an unhappy marriage, maybe they battled an eating disorder. There’s plenty of Diana to look into and take your bit out of – almost like a horoscope, you can make it make sense for you.” Diana’s is buried at the Spencer family home Althorp, now run by Earl Spencer. Last month, Harry took his wife Meghan and his children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to the Northamptonshire estate, where it is believed they visited her grave. The Earl’s new book, which is planned to be published by Penguin Random House on September 22, features a black and white cover image of Diana. Daniel Bunyard, publishing director at Penguin Random House UK, said: “This is a book of historic importance, telling as it does the story of one of the 20th century's most iconic and culturally significant figures, but it is also utterly unique in being written by Earl Spencer, from a vantage point of such intimacy. “Charles Spencer is both a loving brother and an acclaimed memoirist as well as a celebrated historian, and all these facets are brought together in Swan Song. “It is extraordinarily moving, beautifully written and remarkably candid, in no small part due to Charles's rare ability to access great emotional depth without sentimentality, honest observation without rancour, and warmth without gloss. “While these pages contain many revelations that will draw considerable attention, readers will find, for the first time, but also for all time, a fitting tribute to the beloved woman who was Princess Diana.”