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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nEarl Spencer has said he finds it hard when strangers tell him where they were when his sister Princess Diana died.<\/p>\n
Charles Spencer discussed his grief on author Gyles Brandreth\u2019s podcast, Rosebud<\/em>, as he shared how \u201cfundamentally unhappy\u201d he becomes on the anniversary of her death every year.<\/p>\nHe said: \u201cI tell you what I do find quite difficult\u2026 it probably sounds ungracious but occasionally total strangers come up and feel they must tell me where they were when they heard she died.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure that\u2019s helpful to them, it\u2019s not entirely helpful to everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
The British peer gave an example of an American woman who had expressed that she grew up with Diana in South Dakota.<\/p>\n
He said she \u201cclutched me to her ample bosom and said that I may have thought I grew up with Diana, but actually she did in South Dakota\u201d.<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>(PA)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nHe added: \u201cYou just have to smile, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The earl said he and his seven children cut flowers and visited Diana\u2019s grave to mark the day of her passing at the family\u2019s Althorp estate. She was buried on the grounds of the Northamptonshire estate she grew up in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try and be really busy on August 31 because it\u2019s just terribly sad, really,\u201d he told Mr Brandreth.<\/p>\n
He reflected on Diana\u2019s \u201cextraordinary\u201d legacy, likening it to picking parts from a horoscope that suit you.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s different things to different people, particularly to women of a similar age. They really invested their lives in hers,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe they had an unhappy marriage, maybe they battled an eating disorder. There\u2019s plenty of Diana to look into and take your bit out of \u2013 almost like a horoscope, you can make it make sense for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Diana, Princess of Wales died in a car crash in 1997 (Stefan Rousseau\/PA) (PA Archive)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nLord Fellowes, a friend of the earl who created Downton Abbey, had told him that Diana\u2019s appeal was in part down to \u201csomething unhappy\u201d about her.<\/p>\n
He told Mr Brandreth: \u201cOf course, she married into the Royal family, she was beautiful and very charismatic, but he also said \u2018like the great film stars, there was something unhappy in there that really triggered an emotional response\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earl Spencer spoke out earlier this year after a building at the former home of the Princess was targeted in a suspected arson attack in May.<\/p>\n
Firefighters rushed overnight to the scene of a blaze at one of the farmhouses on Althorp Estate, which houses the Grade I-listed stately home in which the late Princess of Wales grew up.<\/p>\n
Sharing photographs of a large fire on social media, the Earl said he was \u201cstunned\u201d to learn that the farmhouse \u201cwas apparently burnt down by vandals last night\u201d.<\/p>\n
Noting that the building was unoccupied at the time, the late princess\u2019s younger brother said: \u201cSo very sad that anyone would think this a fun thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Earl Spencer has said he finds it hard when strangers tell him where they were when his sister Princess Diana died. Charles Spencer discussed his grief on author Gyles Brandreth\u2019s podcast, Rosebud, as he shared how \u201cfundamentally unhappy\u201d he becomes on the anniversary of her death every year. He said: \u201cI tell you what I do find quite difficult\u2026 it probably sounds ungracious but occasionally total strangers come up and feel they must tell me where they were when they heard she died. \u201cI\u2019m sure that\u2019s helpful to them, it\u2019s not entirely helpful to everyone else.\u201d The British peer gave an example of an American woman who had expressed that she grew up with Diana in South Dakota. He said she \u201cclutched me to her ample bosom and said that I may have thought I grew up with Diana, but actually she did in South Dakota\u201d. open image in gallery (PA) He added: \u201cYou just have to smile, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d The earl said he and his seven children cut flowers and visited Diana\u2019s grave to mark the day of her passing at the family\u2019s Alth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}