Inside Charles Spencer’s relationship with Prince Harry and Prince William

The status of Prince William and Prince Harry as the King’s sons within the royal family is frequently discussed.

But the brothers also keep up a quieter but no less enduring relationship with the Spencers, the members of their mother’s family.

The maternal aunts Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes, and their maternal uncle Charles Spencer, the infant brother of Princess Diana, are still close to William and Harry.

When Charles was photographed with the Princes in 1997 walking behind their mother’s casket, it became clear that they were close.

Later, he claimed that he had voiced concerns to royal officials before being informed that William and Harry were in favor of it, adding that he quickly realized this was untrue.

Charles acknowledged he still has nightmares about the “harrowing” event from 20 years ago and referred to walking behind Diana’s coffin in the funeral cortege as the “most horrifying half hour of my life.”

Charles asserted that he thought Diana’s sons’ experience was “a million times worse,” though.

Prince Charles made a public commitment to take care of Princess Diana’s two sons during his eulogy at her funeral.

In part, he said: “I promise that we, your blood family, will do everything in our power to continue guiding these two exceptional young men in the imaginative and loving manner in which you were doing so that their souls won’t just be submerged by duty and tradition but can sing out freely as you intended.

“We will always respect and support them in their royal roles because we fully respect the heritages into which they both were born. But like you, we understand that in order to prepare them spiritually and emotionally for the years to come, they must encounter as many diverse aspects of life as they can. You would have anticipated nothing less from us, I know.

“We all had a great deal of concern for William and Harry today. The loss of a woman who was not even our mother has left us all overcome with grief. We are unable to comprehend the extent of your suffering.”

Since that time, Charles has only occasionally been seen in public with the Princes.

The trio famously made amends in 2006 at the dedication of a fountain in Diana’s honor in Hyde Park, and again in 2021 on the anniversary of the Princess’s death, when a statue of her was unveiled in the sunken gardens of Buckingham Palace.

Of course, Charles and his family were present at both of the brothers’ weddings: Harry married Meghan Markle in May 2018 and William married Kate Middleton in April 2011.