{"id":622096,"date":"2026-09-20T17:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T17:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/622096\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T17:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T17:44:16","slug":"earl-spencer-says-media-treatment-of-harry-and-meghan-echoes-dianas-experience-monarchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/622096\/","title":{"rendered":"Earl Spencer says media treatment of Harry and Meghan \u2018echoes\u2019 Diana\u2019s experience | Monarchy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earl Spencer has said the relationship between the press and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex \u201cechoes\u201d the way the media treated his sister Diana, Princess of Wales<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the BBC<\/a> to be aired on Sunday evening, Spencer described the press\u2019s coverage of Harry and Meghan as having a \u201ccancerous influence\u201d, adding it would be \u201cbeholden on people to learn from Diana\u2019s example\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spencer added he worries about the Duke of Sussex \u201cnot having any police protection\u201d and that he does not take sides in the row between Harry and his brother William, the Prince of Wales.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIf 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. And I think it would be really beholden on people to learn from Diana\u2019s example.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not here to speak for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone who\u2019s being destroyed in this way daily, it must be such a cancerous influence in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Diana was \u201creally brought low\u201d by criticism she received from the media, adding it was a pity to see \u201cechoes of that\u201d in the press coverage of Harry and Meghan.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI would say that I personally worry about the fifth in line to the throne who\u2019s served in the military not having any police protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an uncle who\u2019s seen his sister die in very, very preventable circumstances, that I would veer towards protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spencer\u2019s latest comments come after he accused King Charles of gaslighting him<\/a> following Buckingham Palace\u2019s response to explosive claims that Charles said \u201cwe\u2019ll forget her soon enough\u201d after Diana\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

He has made a series of damning claims about the king<\/a> in a new memoir chronicling Diana\u2019s life that prompted the palace to push back, saying: \u201cThe pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spencer said: \u201cIt was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I\u2019d lied without the king being able to deny what I\u2019d said. I also thought it was a rather poor imitation of the \u2018recollections may vary\u2019 quote, which was a much more elegant way of putting things, but in these circumstances entirely out of place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He added that \u201cDiana would be cheering from the rafters at this book\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to the claims made in the memoir<\/a>, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Wednesday: \u201cWhile 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 colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an extract of the BBC interview released on Friday, Spencer said he was telling the truth and described the king\u2019s comments about his sister as \u201cmonstrous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he had evidence of the king\u2019s comments, he told the BBC: \u201cI told friends and family straight away, close friends and family, about what had been said, because it was so monstrous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sussexes, who returned to the UK<\/a> from the US on 26 August, have long been critical of their treatment by the media, with Harry in 2021 telling Oprah Winfrey the tabloid press had created a \u201ctoxic environment\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earl Spencer has said the relationship between the press and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex \u201cechoes\u201d the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":["post-622096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}