{"id":350542,"date":"2026-09-18T21:06:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/350542\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:06:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:06:55","slug":"princess-dianas-brother-rejected-queen-elizabeths-gesture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/350542\/","title":{"rendered":"Princess Diana’s Brother Rejected Queen Elizabeth’s Gesture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Princess Diana\u2019s<\/a> brother revealed a gesture he rejected from Queen Elizabeth<\/a> just after his sister\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

Charles Spencer opens up about the astonishing moment in his new book, \u201cSwan Song: Diana, My Sister,\u201d which hits shelves next week. The Daily Mail featured excerpts from the book<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

Spencer wrote that he was on a train with his sister\u2019s coffin to Althorp \u2015 the Spencer family\u2019s estate \u2015 where Diana is buried. During the train ride, Robert Fellowes, the queen\u2019s secretary and Spencer\u2019s brother-in-law, spoke to Spencer about a phone call with Queen Elizabeth<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have just received a call from Her Majesty,\u201d Fellowes relayed, according to Spencer. \u201cShe would like to offer Diana her HRH title back.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth attend the Opening of Parliament in November 1982. Diana is wearing a white fur coat and the Spencer tiara. <\/p>\n

Princess Diana Archive via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Diana\u2019s \u201cHer Royal Highness\u201d title was stripped<\/a> following her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996. Diana was then styled as \u201cDiana, Princess of Wales.\u201d <\/p>\n

Spencer wrote that he looked at Fellowes as he \u201ctried to digest the significance of what was being suggested.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would Diana want? I thought. She had been dreadfully hurt by the removal of that title as she exited her marriage. It had seemed so petty and vindictive. While she was no longer to be married to one future king, she would always be mother to another.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a moment, I felt that I knew in my bones how she would view this posthumous award,\u201d the historian wrote. \u201c\u2018That\u2019s very kind of the Queen, of course. But what\u2019s the point, Robert? Now? I mean \u2013 Diana\u2019s dead.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Spencer added that he has later asked himself if his answer \u201cwas the correct reply.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"PrincessPrincess Diana watches polo with Queen Elizabeth. <\/p>\n

Tim Graham via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe Diana would have seen some point in having HRH carved on her tombstone,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMore importantly, perhaps her sons would have valued this gesture from their paternal grandmother to their mother? But I felt especially protective of Diana in that moment and had no doubt that the consolation prize was hollow, however well-meaning the Queen\u2019s gesture.\u201d <\/p>\n

The earl added that, \u201cThe title should never have been removed during her life, in which case it would not have been necessary to offer it to her in death.\u201d <\/p>\n

HuffPost reached out to Buckingham and Kensington Palace for comment on Friday, as well as representatives for Prince Harry<\/a>. <\/p>\n

While the palaces wouldn\u2019t typically comment, Buckingham Palace shared an astonishing response when excerpts of Spencer\u2019s book were first published earlier this week. <\/p>\n

\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 color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss,\u201d a spokesperson for the palace shared in a statement with HuffPost. <\/p>\n

Harry, who recently relocated back to the U.K., evaded a reporter\u2019s question<\/a> about his uncle\u2019s book on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\u201cHarry, Harry, how are you feeling about your uncle\u2019s book?\u201d a reporter asked on the red carpet, as Harry turned his focus back to the people walking with him. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Princess Diana\u2019s brother revealed a gesture he rejected from Queen Elizabeth just after his sister\u2019s death. Charles Spencer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,4260,1315,122,124,123,486,4259],"class_list":["post-350542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-princess-diana","tag-queen-elizabeth","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-royal-family","tag-royals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}