New threat to Harry & Meg’s UK return & royal truce as prince’s uncle set to slam Charles over Diana’s death in new book

PRINCE Harry and Meghan’s UK return and royal truce face being hit by his uncle Earl Spencer’s new book about the late Princess Diana. Her brother is expected to criticise the King and the late Queen over his sister’s death — and senior royals’ handling of the aftermath. Harry and Meghan’s UK return and royal truce face being hit by his uncle Earl Spencer’s new book about the late Princess Diana Credit: Getty Diana’s brother Earl Spencer is expected to criticise the King and the late Queen over his sister’s death — and senior royals’ handling of the aftermath Credit: Getty That includes her funeral and making the young Princes William and Harry walk behind her coffin. He has previously slammed the royals following the late Princess of Wales’s death almost 30 years ago. Sign up for the Royals newsletter Thank you! Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is due to be published on September 22 — just a couple of weeks after Harry and Meghan are expected to move back to the UK. It is understood the Sussexes and their children may stay near Earl Spencer’s Althorp Estate temporarily while they wait to move into their new UK home. The couple stayed at Althorp House, the Spencer family estate in Northamptonshire where Diana is buried, when visiting in July. Harry, 41, may have discussed the book with his uncle then. But it is understood he has not helped with the content in any way. A source said: “The book and its timing are certain to ruffle some royal feathers. Harry and Meghan could even be with Earl Spencer when the book is published. “Given that it’s likely to be critical of senior royals, this could be a blot on Harry’s homecoming and peaceful relations with his family.” Most read in Royals Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is due to be published on September 22 — just a couple of weeks after Harry and Meghan are expected to move back to the UK Lilibet and Archie are coming home and will go to school in the UK Credit: Instagram It is the latest twist after The Sun revealed in a world exclusive on Thursday that the couple are returning home six years after Megxit — when they quit life as working royals to move to the US. Harry and American Meghan, 45, will move into a non-royal residence while their children, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, will attend school here. Royal expert and Majesty Magazine editor-in-chief Ingrid Seward says it “makes sense” for them to stay at Althorp upon their return. Writing in today’s Sun on Sunday, she says: “Princess Diana’s younger brother, Charles Spencer, and his sisters have been quietly supporting Prince Harry and Meghan behind the scenes — and have been for some time.” She added: “Now, he is preparing to release a book on Diana, offering his family’s perspective away from the royal household’s ‘grey men in suits’. The rift between the Royal Family and Charles Spencer over Diana’s funeral arrangements remains well-documented. “Spencer delivered the final word in his historic Westminster Abbey eulogy. At the time, it seemed like a shocking blow to the Royals. “In hindsight, it captures precisely what Spencer is doing now — helping Harry and Meghan navigate their return.” When announcing the release of his book last week, Earl Spencer, 62, vowed: “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.” The funeral reference is a potential warning shot to the royals, given that he famously made thinly-veiled digs at them as he delivered the eulogy in Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997. In his speech, he attacked the family for stripping Diana of her royal status following her divorce from the then-Prince Charles. He said Diana — who was 36 when she died in a car crash in Paris along with her partner Dodi Fayed and chauffeur Henri Paul — “needed no royal title to continue to generate her brand of magic”. It came after the Royal Family suffered a huge public backlash over its handling of Diana’s death. Diana with her sons on a skiing holiday in Lech, Austria in 1993 Credit: Getty Prince Philip, Prince William, Viscount Althorpe, Prince Harry and Prince Charles follow the coffin of Princess Diana at her funeral procession in 1997 Credit: Alamy The late Queen was criticised for not returning to Buckingham Palace immediately after Diana died. She was holidaying at Balmoral, in Scotland, with Princes William and Harry — then just 15 and 12 — and wanted to protect her grandsons. They stayed there for five days before returning to London. The late Queen was also accused of being cold-hearted by the public for not flying a flag at half-mast at Buckingham Palace. Protocol dictated no flag was flown over the building when the monarch was not in residence. But after the public backlash, the Queen agreed to fly the Union Flag at half-mast on the day of Diana’s funeral as a mark of respect. It sparked a change in tradition, with a flag now raised at all times — even when the monarch is not in residence. The decision to make William and Harry walk behind Diana’s coffin during her funeral procession also drew criticism. Charles, William and Harry look at floral tributes to Diana outside Kensington Palace in 1997 Credit: Getty Then Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles pose with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 1981 Credit: AP:Associated Press It was pushed by Prince Philip, who told the boys: “I’ll walk if you walk.” Earl Spencer was vehemently against the idea, but claimed he was “lied to” and told the boys “wanted to do it, which of course they didn’t”. Speaking in 2017, he said: “It was the worst part of the day by a considerable margin, walking behind my sister’s body with two boys who were obviously massively grieving. “It was a sort of bizarre circumstance where we were told you just have to look straight ahead. “But the feeling, the sort of absolute crashing tidal wave of grief coming at you as you went down this sort of tunnel of deep emotion, it was really harrowing actually and I still have nightmares about it now.” That year, Harry also said of the decision: “I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances.” And writing in his 2023 memoir Spare, he said: “I remember feeling numb. I remember clenching my fists.” The King, 77, is said to “deeply regret” letting his sons do the walk. His Majesty was only told last Sunday the Sussexes are returning, but is pleased to be able to see his family. The pair did not raise any prospect of a return when they met with the King and Queen Camilla, 79, at the Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire in July. Earl Spencer said he had been “inundated yet again” with interview requests ahead of the anniversary of Diana’s death on August 31. He said: “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.” It is also reported plans for a documentary — first revealed by The Sun last year — involving Harry to mark 30 years since Diana’s death are “well advanced”. Spencer doesn’t shy from conflict BY INGRID SEWARD, Royal biographer FOR Prince Harry Althorp is more than a grand country estate — it is a sacred sanctuary, the ancestral home of his late mother and the quiet island where she rests. It is the one place in Britain he can draw close to Diana’s memory away from the public gaze. So — as he and Meghan navigate a complex transition back to the UK — it makes sense that they would look to the 13,000-acre Northamptonshire estate while searching for a permanent base. Diana’s younger brother Charles Spencer and his two sisters have been quietly supporting Harry and Meghan behind the scenes. On one hand it is entirely fitting that Earl Spencer would smooth the path for his nephew. On the other it feels like history repeating itself — given how the Spencers’ own ties to the royal family eventually soured. When Harry returns to the UK, Charles Spencer is often there. In 2024 he attended the Invictus Games tenth anniversary service at St Paul’s Cathedral. The two were also seen together at the funeral of Lord Robert Fellowes, husband to Harry’s aunt Lady Jane Fellowes. Harry’s “red aunts” — Lady Jane and Lady Sarah McCorquodale — nicknamed after their hair — were at the 2019 christening of Harry’s son Archie at Windsor Castle. The royal ties run deep. Charles’ father Johnnie Spencer, served as an equerry to both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. Their maternal grandfather Lord Fermoy was a close friend of George VI and their grandmother Lady Fermoy was a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen Mother. Jokingly dubbed “ten generations of royal groupies”, the Spencers have always been inextricably linked to the throne. Charles is even a godson of the late Queen. Yet there is one major difference between the Spencers and the House of Windsor. While the Royals famously adhere to “never complain, never explain” the Spencers have always fought back. Charles does not shy away from conflict when he feels wronged. Consider his battle with Martin Bashir and the BBC or his memoir detailing his traumatic schooldays. Now he is preparing to release a book on Diana offering his family’s perspective away from the royal household’s “grey men in suits”. Harry has taken a similar path, dropping his own “truth bombs” through the same publisher in his memoir Spare. He is also reportedly involved in an upcoming documentary marking an anniversary of his mother’s death. Could Althorp and the Spencers feature in it? Only time will tell. The rift between the Royal Family and Charles over Diana’s funeral arrangements is well-documented. Spencer delivered the final word in his Westminster Abbey eulogy saying: “I pledge we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way . . . their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition.” At the time it seemed like a shocking blow to the Royals. In hindsight it captures what Spencer is doing now — helping Harry and Meghan navigate their return. Their children Archie and Lilibet need to understand their heritage, not have it airbrushed by the California sunshine. Looking ahead, the King must address any lingering animosity between the families. While Harry and Meghan remain unpopular with the British public their children’s connection to the Spencer line creates a powerful alternative royal bloodline — one rooted in public sentiment even while estranged from the Crown. *Ingrid Seward is the author of Catherine and Diana which will be published in September by Orion. 1 comment1