Princess Diana's Brother, Charles Spencer, Shared a Rare Photo From Their Childhood

Adorable!

Diana and Charles Spencer
(Image credit: PA Images)

The younger brother of Princess Diana, Charles, Earl Spencer, posted a sweet photo from their childhood on Twitter Saturday. In the photo, which Charles didn't date or caption, Diana stands with her arm around her little brother, wearing a pink gingham dress while Charles wears a polo shirt and shorts.

Charles' tweet came amid his ongoing conflict with the BBC surrounding Diana's explosive 1995 interview with journalist Martin Bashir, during which she offered unprecedented insight into her broken marriage with Prince Charles. Earl Spencer alleges that the BBC employed "fake bank statements and other deceit" to convince Diana to take part in the interview, as the Guardian reports. 

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In September, Charles spoke to the Sunday Times about the childhood trauma he and Diana experienced after the separation of their parents, John and Frances Spencer. "Diana and I had two older sisters who were away at school, so she and I were very much in it together and I did talk to her about it," Charles said. "Our father was a quiet and constant source of love, but our mother wasn’t cut out for maternity. Not her fault, she couldn’t do it."

"While she was packing her stuff to leave, she promised Diana [then aged five] she’d come back to see her. Diana used to wait on the doorstep for her, but she never came," he continued. "She could hear me crying down the corridor but was too scared of the dark to come to me."

"I’ve been in and out of therapy for 20 years. I did a lot of very profound work on my unhappy childhood last year, which was agonising and horrible," Charles reflected. "I don’t say that out of self-pity, it was intriguing to me that it was so desperately unpleasant. But the result has been cathartic. Coming out the other side has been good."

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(Image credit: Princess Diana Archive)
Emily Dixon
Morning Editor

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.