Charles Spencer has recently posted a rare photo from his school days with his sister Princess Diana. The photograph shared dates back to Charles’ first day of school in September 1968.
WATCH: Charles Spencer’s powerful eulogy.
“My father took this photograph of me and my sister, Diana, just before he drove us to Silfield, a really lovely primary school in King’s Lynn, Norfolk,” he captioned the post.
Princess Diana and her brother had a strong relationship throughout their childhood right up until her tragic death in 1997.
How many brothers did Princess Diana have?
Princess Diana grew up with three siblings; two sisters, Sarah and Jane, and one brother, Charles. She also had an older brother, John, however, he unfortunately died just hours after his birth in 1960.
Charles and Diana were the youngest of the family and despite having two older siblings, they spent most of their time together. Sarah was born in 1955 and Jane was born in 1957 while Diana was born in 1961, followed by Charles in 1964; the age difference between the siblings is said to be the reason behind Charles and Diana’s close relationship.
Did Princess Diana and Charles Spencer have a close relationship?
Charles went to school with his sister until he moved to the all-boys boarding school, Maidwell Hall Prep Schol, in 1972. Recently speaking to HELLO!, Charles revealed that Diana was “always very protective” over him.
“My mother [Frances] left home when we were young – I was two or three, and Diana would have been five or six – so we were very much in it together,” he told the publication.
The children were raised at Park House, a rented home at Queen Elizabeth’s Sandringham estate, before their father moved them to Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire, England, in the mid-1970s.
“Diana looked after me because she was nearly three years older than me,” Charles said.
Althorp House has belonged to the Spencer family for the past 500 years and is also where Diana was laid to rest. Leading up to her death, there was a lot of bad press about her, and Princess Diana was continually attacked by the media.
Following her death, it was her brother who stood up for at her funeral, amid all the tabloid abuse. Charles’ eulogy later became known as one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century, according to The Guardian, after he defended his sister against all the negative things published about her.
“I don’t think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media… My own and only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum,” he said.
“It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this: a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.
“Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity, a standard-bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality.
