FAMILY MATTERS

Diana’s Brother Backs Harry at Invictus Games Event Amid Royal Snub

Charles Spencer has had a longstanding feud with the royals since Diana’s death.

While the royal family may have abandoned Prince Harry at his Invictus Games event in London on Wednesday, the prince at least had the support of his mother’s family. His uncle Charles Spencer and his aunt Jane Fellowes—brother and sister of Princess Diana—were both at his side for the honorary ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral as Harry’s royal relatives partied away across town. The Spencers have stood by Harry even as his relationship with the royals has strained, the Daily Mail reported, owing in part to Charles Spencer’s longtime feud with the royals. At Diana’s funeral in 1997, he made a withering public speech vowing that “we, your blood family, will do all we can” to guide then-teenage William and Harry “so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.” In 2017, he said that the royals had lied to him about the princes wanting to follow Diana’s coffin, and in 2023, the Spencers were pointedly uninvited to the king’s coronation.