Queen Elizabeth offered to restore Princess Diana’s royal title after her death, according to her brother Charles Spencer.
Earl Spencer — the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales — claims the late monarch contacted him through her Private Secretary Robert Fellowes as he was on the royal train to Althorp, his family estate in Northamptonshire, ahead of Diana’s burial there back in 1997.
The Queen allegedly offered to restore the Her Royal Highness (HRH) title which had previously been removed after her divorce from King Charles, who was then Prince of Wales.
However, Spencer claims he rejected the offer because it felt like a “consolation prize”. In his new book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which has been serialised by the Daily Mail newspaper, Spencer wrote Diana was “dreadfully hurt” by the “petty and vindictive” decision to remove her HRH title and he added the Queen’s gesture was “well-meaning” but he decided to reject the “consolation prize”.
He wrote: “I felt that I knew in my bones how she would view this posthumous award. That’s very kind of the Queen, of course. But what’s the point, Robert? Now? I mean? Diana’s dead.”
Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris, France aged 36 in August 1997 - a year after she lost her HRH title which was removed a day after her divorce from Charles was finalised in August 1996.
She was given a funeral in London before a private burial at her family home of Althorp. Queen Elizabeth passed away in 2022.
The latest revelations from Earl Spencer’s book come after King Charles criticized at his former brother-in-law’s claims following the publication of a passage which suggested Charles sneered Diana would be forgotten “soon enough” during a phone call in the days following her passing.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the king said: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.”