For years now, it’s been clear that Prince Harry maintains close relations with his uncle Charles Spencer, the Earl Spencer. It makes sense that Harry would have such affinity for the Spencer side of the family – Harry is his mother’s son and Harry has a more Spencer-like temperament and charisma. And I think the Spencers have simply given Harry a safe space and a warm embrace because they too could see how he was the long-neglected “spare.” Soon after the Duchess of Sussex’s Instagram carousel confirmed the family’s stay at Althorp this month, the Daily Mail published a curious story with commentary about the long-simmering beef between the Spencers and Windsors, and how worked up the Windsors have been over the fact that Harry is still so close to the Earl Spencer. The story was later scrubbed from the Mail Online. Funny. Now I wonder if Richard Eden’s latest Mail column will also get scrubbed or edited, because he’s focusing on the Spencers too.
Addressing his sister’s coffin at Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, Earl Spencer declared of his nephews Princes William and Harry: ‘On behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.’
Charles Spencer’s powerful and inflammatory eulogy so moved the crowds gathered outside Westminster Abbey that their spontaneous applause was eventually followed by clapping inside the building. Martin Neary, the abbey’s musical director, later said of Lord Spencer’s speech: ‘I felt a great sympathy for what Diana had suffered but at the same time I was shocked by some of the things which were said.’ Referring to William and Harry, he added: ‘The princes actually applauded at the end, although the senior members of the Royal Family did not.’
Almost three decades after the car crash in Paris that killed Diana, Lord Spencer is still close to at least one of her sons. Indeed, he enjoys warmer relations with Harry than he does with some of his own children. William appears to have kept his distance from historian Lord Spencer, who was conspicuous by his absence at the weddings of his daughters Lady Kitty in 2021 and Lady Amelia two years later.
He has, however, become something of a father figure for Harry. This was notable on the California-based prince’s recent return visit to Britain when he spent more time with his uncle than he did with his own father, King Charles. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, visited the King at his Gloucestershire retreat, Highgrove, for afternoon tea. But they stayed at Althorp with Earl Spencer and his latest Countess, Cat Jarman, his fourth wife.
So close is Harry to his uncle that he sought advice from him about changing his family name to Spencer, as I revealed in The Mail on Sunday last year. The move would have involved ditching Mountbatten-Windsor, the name used on the passports of Archie and Lilibet. ‘They had a very amicable conversation and Spencer advised him against taking such a step,’ a friend of Harry said at the time. It would have been particularly hurtful to the King, who cherishes the Mountbatten name just as his father did.
…Last week, Meghan posted a photograph online of Harry and their children in Althorp’s gardens carrying bouquets of flowers. They were believed to be making their way to lay the blooms at Diana’s grave. Meghan’s decision to include the photo among a gallery of 12 snaps that she posted on Instagram, accompanied by the jaunty sounds of Cliff Richard and The Shadows’ song Summer Holiday, drew criticism, with some of her followers describing it as tasteless and accusing her of ‘cashing in’ on Diana’s grave.
There was, however, a little-noticed response from Lord Spencer to the criticism of Meghan and Harry. With his agreement, his wife, Cat, posted an image of a grave herself on Instagram three days later. It was not the resting place of Diana but of the earl’s older brother John, who died shortly after birth in 1960. Charles took Cat to visit the grave at Sandringham, Norfolk, last weekend. John is buried in the graveyard of St Mary Magdalene church, next to their grandfather. A few years ago, Charles had John’s headstone restored. The church is next to Park House, where Charles, Diana and their two older sisters grew up. They moved to Althorp in the mid-1970s, when Diana was 13 or 14, after her grandfather’s death and her father inheriting the earldom. There could have been no clearer way for Earl Spencer to spell out that he approved of Meghan’s social media posts from Althorp.
It’s notable that the duchess did not post a single photograph of her family’s visit to Highgrove. The King is unlikely to take a similarly generous view of such intimate moments being made public on an account used to publicise Meghan’s commercial ventures.
That’s true about Cat posting photos of a Spencer-family gravestone. And I think it’s true that the timing of it was on purpose, and it was Charles Spencer and Cat lending some support to Meghan. And that’s the story, isn’t it? That’s the story which the British media has been trying to avoid discussing for years – that Harry is close to the Earl Spencer, that Harry’s family isn’t just his deadbeat father and incandescent brother, and that the Sussexes will always have a place to stay in the UK – Althorp. The Spencers’ place in this story really blows up the palace’s narrative about Harry and Meghan. Incidentally, it’s extremely funny for someone like Eden to point the finger at Charles Spencer for having not-great relationships with some of his kids. Look who you’re defending, bro.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
