Princess Diana Honored by Brother Charles Spencer on 27th Anniversary of Her Death

The death of Diana, Princess of Wales on Aug. 31, 1997, shocked the world.

By Anna Rumer

Princess Diana's younger brother is remembering his beloved big sister 27 years after her tragic death. Charles Spencer, 60, took to Instagram on Saturday, Aug. 31, to mark nearly three decades since the Princess of Wales was killed in a Paris car crash at age 36.

The 9th Earl Spencer posted a photo on social media that included a number of photographs and newspaper clippings about the late royal, including an article that covered her christening as a baby. No caption was included alongside the photo. 

Diana was one of five children born to John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd. Sarah, the eldest sibling, was born in 1955, with sister Jane being born in 1957. Diana was born in 1961, and Charles was the youngest, born in 1964. The Spencers also had a brother named John who was born in 1960 but died soon after.

It was Charles who performed Princess Diana's funeral eulogy on Sept. 6, 1997, calling himself "the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning, before a world in shock" before praising his sister as "the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty" and a symbol of "selfless humanity."

All over the world, Diana was "a standard bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality," he continued. "Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic."

Related:

princess-diana-william-harry-getty-images.jpg
(Photo:

Princess Diana with sons Prince William and Prince Harry prior to her death in 1997.

- Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)

As the world said goodbye to the beloved Princess of Wales, Charles thanked her "for the way [she] brightened our lives, even though God granted [her] but half a life." He continued, "We will all feel cheated always that you were taken from us so young and yet we must learn to be grateful that you came along at all. Only now that you are gone do we truly appreciate what we are now without and we want you to know that life without you is very, very difficult."

Charles also called out Diana's treatment by the British tabloids, calling her the "most hunted person of the modern age." He told the world of Diana's two sons, Prince Harry and Prince William, "She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys William and Harry from a similar fate and I do this here Diana on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair."

Trending Now: