Earl Spencer: I Have No Plans To Intervene In William And Harry's Rift

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Charles Spencer refuses to take sides. The feud between Prince William and Prince Harry entered a new chapter amid the youngest brother's return to the U.K., but Princess Diana's brother has no intention of playing arbitrator. "I'm just an uncle ... I would never presume to be involved with that," the earl said on the ITV show "Lorraine" on September 23, 2026. Spencer wants to correct the assumption that he has taken Harry's side in the rift, revealing that he would never choose one of Diana's children over the other. "I'm on my deceased sister's sons' side, both of them," he told the BBC a few days earlier.

The assumption stems from the perception that Spencer has maintained a closer relationship with Harry in the past few years, even though the Duke of Sussex was on the other side of the Atlantic. Harry has stayed at Spencer's home more than once since his 2020 move to the U.S. He stayed there in August 2024, when he flew to his homeland for the memorial service of a family member. More recently, the Sussex bunch stayed at Althorp House during their July 2026 visit to the U.K., a trip marked by Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet's reunion with Grandpa Charles, aka King Charles III.

However, Spencer clarified that he's always available to whichever nephew needs him. "If either of them wanted anything, then I'd be equally there for them," she said in the BBC interview. And that's what he believes he has done. "I never get involved in one camp or the other, except as a benign figure, I hope," he shared. Despite his intentions, it's clear that one brother has a different opinion.

If there was a general understanding that Prince William wasn't close to Charles Spencer before, the notion was surely amplified by the publication of the latter's memoir, "Swan Song: Diana, my sister," in September 2026. "William is absolutely furious about the book," presenter Mark Dolan said on the "Daily Expresso" podcast, citing royal sources. William's issues reportedly relate to how Spencer portrayed King Charles III. "He doesn't have a good relationship with his uncle Charles, and he's firmly on his father's side. He's disgusted by what's in this book."

One of Spencer's most controversial claims refers to Charles' reaction to Princess Diana's death. "'Rest assured,' he hissed, 'we'll forget her soon enough!'" Spencer recalled Charles telling him (via People). William was said to have been upset that his uncle would rattle Charles amid his health problems. "He's been told to keep his life as stress-free as possible to help in his cancer fight," a source told Closer Weekly. "It's affecting him terribly." However, William has made no public remarks about the memoir. In fact, both he and Harry have evaded answering questions about it.

Spencer, for his part, contended he informed William and Harry about the book in advance. "I told them exactly the same time. And I can say that Harry is completely fine about it," he told People. Dolan argued that Harry's silence differs from William's, given that he tends to speak out whereas his older brother generally abides by the "Never complain, never explain" royal family motto. "You can only interpret, therefore, that he supports the content of the book," he stated.