Charles Spencer has revealed for the first time the deeply moving eulogy he delivered for his late sister, Princess Diana<\/a>, at her 1997 funeral was not the one he originally wrote \u2013 admitting he had planned “something very different,” RadarOnline.com<\/em><\/a> can reveal.<\/p>\n The 9th Earl Spencer, 61, opened up about his private memories on Gyles Brandreth’s “Rosebud”<\/a> podcast”, sharing new details about how he came to write the speech that became one of the most powerful tributes in modern royal history.<\/p>\n https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed?uri=spotify%3Aepisode%3A21uCUAYwO7pA7YhxXQjMQV<\/a><\/p>\n His eulogy, delivered at Westminster Abbey in front of a global audience of millions, spoke of Diana’s “selfless humanity” and included his pledge to protect her two sons, then\u2011Prince William<\/a>, 15, and Prince Harry<\/a>, 12.<\/p>\n “And beyond that, on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned,” he said at the time.<\/p>\n Speaking on the podcast, Spencer said: “I wrote something very different,” describing how the emotional turmoil of his sister’s sudden death had left him numb and searching for words that would truly represent her. Living in South Africa at the time, he recalled his overnight flight home from Cape Town to London.<\/p>\n “Very, very sweet stewardess helping me because I was in bits,” he said. “And I’m sure everyone listening to this has had to deal with very profoundly emotional moments. I like to keep busy. In those days, I had a big, thick address book and I thought, \u2018I want to find someone who’s going to make the speech for her’. And I got to \u2018Z’ and I hadn’t found anyone. I got off the plane in Heathrow, called my mother, I said, ‘I can’t think who’s going to give the eulogy. And I’ve got an awful feeling it’s going to have to be me.”<\/p>\n According to Spencer, his mother’s response settled the matter.<\/p>\n He added: “She said, ‘Well it is going to be you. Your sisters and I have decided it.’ And on the Tuesday night, I jotted a few things down. It was a very traditional eulogy, almost. You know, ‘She was very good at this as a child’ and all that. And then I thought, ‘Well, this is ridiculous, that’s not who she was.'”<\/p>\n By the following morning, the Earl said his approach had changed completely.<\/p>\n He said: “Then overnight, I must have been chuntering away and I realized that my job actually wasn’t to do that, but it was almost to speak for her. And I knew I’d been left at that stage \u2013 it had no legal standing \u2013 but I knew she’d left me as guardian of her sons. Obviously, the other parent being alive, that meant nothing, but it meant something to me. That sort of duty, I think. And then I wrote it in an hour and a half and, yeah, that was it, really.”<\/p>\n Spencer revealed he had made one final edit before the funeral, explaining: “I did take one bit out, actually, because I did give a rather unnecessary name check to Rupert Murdoch and I thought, ‘Why bother? Why give him the publicity?'”<\/p>\n The eulogy, broadcast live to more than two billion viewers, became one of the most talked\u2011about moments of the 20th century.<\/p>\nA Brother’s Lasting Promise<\/h2>\n
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Grief Forced Him To Speak<\/h2>\n
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Guided By Love And Responsibility<\/h2>\n
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The Eulogy That Shaped History<\/h2>\n
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