He refuses to pick a side. But he also isn’t staying silent.
Charles Spencer has finally addressed the rift between his nephews. In a BBC interview released on September 20, 2026, Princess Diana’s brother made his position clear: he is not on Prince William’s side, and he is not on Prince Harry’s side. He is on his sister’s side — both of her sons.
The comments came ahead of the release of his new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, published on September 22. And they arrive at a moment when the royal family is already reeling from the book’s explosive claims.
“I’m on My Deceased Sister’s Sons’ Side”
Spencer, 62, directly addressed the media perception that he had aligned himself with Harry since the Duke of Sussex’s split from the royal family.
“I think there is a perception in the media that I am on Harry’s side,” he told the BBC. “Well, I’m on my deceased sister’s sons’ side, both of them. And if either of them wanted anything, then I’d be equally there for them. And I never get involved in one camp or the other, except as a benign figure, I hope”.
It’s a careful, deliberate answer — one that acknowledges the reality of the feud without deepening it.
“A Lot of Reasons on Both Sides”
Spencer didn’t pretend the rift is simple. He said there are “a lot of reasons on both sides” why the brothers’ relationship “got to this stage”.
“I hope one day it’s resolved,” he said. “But I don’t know all. I certainly don’t know what’s been done in the finer detail and so I would feel intrusive if I got more involved than to say of course a mother would want her two sons to be happy together and love each other”.
That reference to Diana — the mother who would have wanted her sons to reconcile — is the emotional core of his position. Spencer has positioned himself not as a mediator, but as a guardian of his sister’s memory and a witness to what her sons have lost.
The Memoir That Has the Palace Reeling
Spencer’s neutral stance on the feud is only part of the story. His book contains claims that have provoked a rare public response from Buckingham Palace.
Among the most explosive allegations: that King Charles sounded “giddily elated” during a phone call in the hours after Diana’s death, and that the then-Prince Charles told Spencer, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”.
Spencer has also detailed an alleged heated exchange with Charles over whether William and Harry — then 15 and 12 — should walk behind their mother’s coffin at her funeral.
Buckingham Palace issued a statement that, while not naming Spencer directly, was clearly aimed at the book’s claims: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss”.
Spencer pushed back on that response in his BBC interview. “But they haven’t actually, Laura. They’ve sort of smudged that one, haven’t they? They’ve said that recollections may vary,” he told interviewer Laura Kuenssberg.
“This Will Not Be a Surprise to Them”
Perhaps the most significant claim Spencer made in the interview was about his nephews’ awareness of the book’s contents.
“I don’t like to talk about what I’ve been speaking about to William and Harry, but this will not be a surprise to them,” he said. “I will tell you that these words will not be a surprise to them”.
He also revealed that he told all four of Diana’s siblings — William, Harry, and his sisters Sarah and Jane — about the book at the same time. “And I can say that Harry is completely fine about it,” Spencer added. “He said, ‘I hope there’s nothing embarrassing about him in it.’ I said, ‘There isn’t'”.
Spencer insisted the book “pretty much ends in 1997 with Diana’s death” and that William and Harry appear only “as examples of two little boys who had the most exceptional mother”.
A Family Fractured
The context for Spencer’s intervention is a royal family that remains deeply divided.
William, 44, and Harry, 42, are still estranged, with sources confirming there is no direct contact between the brothers. Harry has publicly expressed a desire for reconciliation, but those close to William and Kate say the wounds run deep. “It was very hard on them, and I wouldn’t blame William for being cautious,” one palace source said.
Harry has made more progress with his father. King Charles, 77, reunited with Harry, Meghan, and their children Archie and Lilibet during the Sussexes’ visit to the UK in July, and the two have reportedly spoken at least once since.
But the brothers remain the unresolved chapter.
Why Spencer’s Words Matter
Charles Spencer is not a neutral observer. He is Diana’s brother, the man who delivered the eulogy that shook the monarchy, and the uncle who has watched his nephews grow up in the shadow of unimaginable loss.
His refusal to take sides is itself a statement. It says that the feud is not a morality play with a hero and a villain. It says that both brothers are grieving, both are wounded, and both are his family.
And it says that the one person who could have healed the rift — the mother who loved them both — is the one person who isn’t here to do it.
“I hope one day it’s resolved,” Spencer said. It’s not a prediction. It’s not a plan. It’s a hope, offered by a man who has spent nearly 30 years watching the consequences of his sister’s death ripple through her sons’ lives.
Whether that hope becomes reality is up to William and Harry. But their uncle has made one thing clear: he will be there for both of them, equally, whenever they’re ready.
