Princess Diana's Brother Marks the 28th Anniversary of His Sister's Death, Which He Calls an "Impossible Day," With Flowers From Althorp
Earl Spencer shared the heartbreaking tribute to his late sibling on social media.


Princess Diana tragically died in a car accident in Paris 28 years ago, on August 31, 1997. To mark the anniversary of her death, Diana's brother, Charles, 9th Earl Spencer, shared a tribute to his late sister on Instagram.
"Flowers we cut this morning from Althorp's gardens for the Island," Charles captioned a photo featuring a bunch of pink and white flowers. "Always an impossible day." A second photo in the carousel showed the island on which Diana is buried; the late royal's grave is only accessible to close family members via rowboat.
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Charles has spoken openly about the lasting impact his sister had on people all over the world. "Even when I was in makeup just now, somebody came up almost crying saying how much she meant to them," he told Good Morning Britain in October 2024. "Every day people tell me what an inspiration she was, how much they miss her, what they did the day she died. It's extraordinary."
Earl Spencer continued, "I'm sure pretty much everyone watching this program has had trauma in their family at some point...like everyone else, you sort of get used to it without it ever going away."
Princess Diana's brother previously revealed why her family decided to bury her in the remote location at Althorp. "There was such a whipped-up feeling of emotion everywhere that I was very worried about where we could safely bury her," he explained to the BBC.
Elaborating on the decision to make a small island his sister's final resting place, Charles wrote in his book, Althorp: The Story of an English House (via Tatler), "Its remoteness is entirely intentional...[The lake is] a buffer against the interventions of the insane and ghoulish, the thick mud presenting a further line of defense."
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Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.