Princess Diana's Brother Says 'Lack of Obvious Care' Let Prince Harry 'Spin Out of Control' After Funeral

Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, has said he was concerned by what he described as a 'lack of obvious care' for Prince Harry after Diana's funeral in 1997, recalling that the then 12-year-old prince was 'allowed to spin out of control'.

Writing in his forthcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer revisits the journey from London to Althorp after Diana's funeral on 6 September 1997, when he said Harry appeared overwhelmed by grief.

His comments are a personal recollection and do not independently establish how Harry was cared for by other members of the Royal Family or whether his experience contributed to difficulties later in life.

Harry had walked behind his mother's coffin through central London alongside his brother Prince William, their father, then-Prince Charles, their grandfather Prince Philip and Spencer.

William was 15 and Harry was 12 at the time. Contemporary accounts recorded the two boys walking in the procession to Westminster Abbey, where Spencer delivered his eulogy for Diana.

The memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is due to be published on 22 September 2026.

Princess Diana's Brother Revisits Harry's Grief

In an extract from Swan Song, Spencer recalls his concern during the train journey to Althorp, the Spencer family estate where Diana was buried.

He wrote that his 'chief memory' of the journey was concern over the 'lack of obvious care' for Harry as he 'decompressed from the ghastliness of the morning'. He said the boy needed 'calm and nurture', but was instead 'allowed to spin out of control'.

'He needed Diana's hugs, of course, and they would forever be denied him,' Spencer wrote. 'But instead of calm and nurture, he was allowed to spin out of control.'

The passage is Spencer's personal recollection and criticism of how Harry was supported after Diana's death. It does not independently establish who was responsible for the care he received or whether that experience caused difficulties later in his life.

Spencer has also described Harry's physical vulnerability that day. In the memoir, he wrote that the prince looked 'tiny, and slight, and bereft', questioning how 'this heartbroken child' could be expected to endure what lay ahead.

Spencer returned to the same point without repeating the memoir's most severe phrasing. He said he wondered whether a 'gentler, more understanding treatment' of Harry's grief could have changed the course that followed.

'He was so young,' Spencer said. 'And I just wonder if a gentler, more understanding treatment of his grief then might have helped him, and that everyone might have found a happier course ahead.'

That is an unusually direct intervention in a family story that has become tangled up with Harry's later estrangement from parts of the monarchy. Spencer did not claim certainty. He said he 'wonders' how closely the painful period after Diana's death was connected to the difficulties that later emerged between Harry and William.

Princess Diana's Brother Questions Funeral Legacy

Harry has himself said he did not believe a child should have been made to walk behind a parent's coffin in those circumstances. The Duke of Sussex has recalled being watched by crowds on the streets and by millions on television after his mother's death.

Spencer has long opposed the decision. He said that he remembered walking beside Harry and thinking the little boy should not have to walk behind his mother's coffin.

William, who was 15, and Harry, 12, joined their father, grandfather and uncle for the procession. Spencer's memoir says Prince Philip ultimately determined the formation, with Spencer walking alongside William and Harry.

Buckingham Palace has not publicly issued a specific response to Spencer's account of Harry's treatment following Diana's funeral. Its broader response to claims in the memoir said that grief can 'cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory.'

The book has also prompted Spencer to speak about media treatment of Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. In an interview, he said coverage of the couple carried 'echoes' of the criticism endured by Diana, whom he said was 'really brought low' by hostility in the press.

'If you look at an article in a tabloid about Diana or the couple that you were mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you know, they can be really, really unpleasant,' Spencer said. He described such coverage as a 'cancerous influence' on the lives of people subjected to it daily.

Spencer said he was not speaking for Harry and Meghan. He also said he supported both of Diana's sons, adding that he would be there equally for William or Harry if either asked for help.

The memoir closes this part of Spencer's account with his recollection of Harry as a bereaved 12-year-old travelling to Althorp after the funeral.