Princess Diana's Brother Reveals that Losing Her 28 Years Ago Was Like Having an "Amputation"

This August will mark 28 years since Princess Diana's tragic death. During her funeral, the late royal's little brother, Charles Spencer, gave a passionate speech about the British media and how his sister was hounded by the paparazzi. Since then, Earl Spencer has gone on to share memories about his sister over the years, including glimpses of the princess's island gravesite at their ancestral home, Althorp, on Instagram. On May 15, Spencer appeared on ITV's Loose Men to discuss mental health—and admitted that losing his sister was a shock to the system.

“It’s such an amputation," Earl Spencer said, describing the pain of losing a sibling. "You grow up with these people, they are your flesh and blood, they’re with you forever and then they’re gone."

"You expect obviously first grandparents and then parents to go, and there’s the awful tragedy you mentioned of children going, but siblings, it’s a really extraordinary thing," Spencer said. Although he has two other older sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, Spencer explained that his relationship with Diana was different because they were closer in age and grew up together.

"I have two sisters I adore, they’re quite a lot older than me, so I don’t have, I don’t share my childhood with anyone anymore. And that’s a great loss that you can never really put right," Earl Spencer continued.

Spencer—who recently split from his third wife, Karen, Countess Spencer—added that for "years after Diana died" he would go to call her without thinking. "I would think I must ring her and tell her something, because we shared the same sense of humor, and you just realize of course that’s not going to happen," he said.

Last August, Diana's brother shared a photo of some old newspaper clippings and pictures of his sister on Instagram to mark the 27th anniversary of her death. And during an appearance on Good Morning Britain last fall, Spencer said that he visits Diana's grave—which is only accessible by rowboat—"pretty much every day."

He continued, "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."