Earl Spencer breaks his silence on Princess Diana in revealing new memoir
Earl Spencer has penned a revealing memoir centred on his relationship with Princess Diana and the turbulent period that followed her death.
The 62-year-old’s book, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is scheduled for release on September 22 through Penguin Michael Joseph, with the 30th anniversary of the princess’s passing approaching next year.
Spencer said the constant flood of interview requests about his sister ultimately persuaded him to commit his recollections to paper.
"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," he stated.
He described the book’s purpose as an attempt to convey the truth about Diana from her brother’s vantage point, much as he sought to do during her funeral address.
The memoir is anticipated to explore Diana’s upbringing, her troubled 15-year union with the then-Prince of Wales, and the volatile days after she was killed in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
Spencer delivered his now-famous eulogy at Westminster Abbey before a global television audience estimated at 2.5 billion.
In that address, he declared that his sister "needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic" and vowed that her "blood family" would shield Prince William and Prince Harry "so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as you planned."
The speech prompted spontaneous applause from the vast crowds outside the Abbey, which rippled inward until the congregation itself joined in.
A behind-the-scenes dispute also erupted over whether William and Harry, then 15 and 12, should walk behind the funeral cortege, a plan Spencer reportedly condemned as "a barbarity," according to Prince Harry’s 2023 memoir Spare.
Spencer and Diana spent their early years at Park House on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk before the family relocated to Althorp in 1975.
The siblings shared affectionate nicknames, Diana called her younger brother "Carlos," while he referred to her as "Duch," short for Duchess.
Their parents’ marriage collapsed in 1967 when their mother Frances left their father Johnnie for wallpaper heir Peter Shand Kydd. A bitter custody dispute followed, with Frances losing care of all four children.
Publisher Daniel Bunyard hailed the work as being of "historic importance," noting that Spencer brings together his roles as "a loving brother and an acclaimed memoirist as well as a celebrated historian."
He praised the book’s capacity for "great emotional depth without sentimentality, honest observation without rancour, and warmth without gloss," adding that while it contains "many revelations that will draw considerable attention," readers will ultimately discover "a fitting tribute to the beloved woman who was Princess Diana."
The memoir will be released internationally and translated into 12 languages, with its cover featuring an elegant black-and-white portrait of the princess.
Spencer earlier this year spoke of the "fundamental unhappiness" he experiences each anniversary of Diana’s death, reflecting on how her legacy resonates differently with different people.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children Archie and Lilibet are reported to have visited Althorp last month, where they are believed to have placed flowers at Diana’s grave on a tree-covered island in the estate’s Oval Lake.
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