“31 August. My Least Favourite Day”: Earl Spencer’s Heartbreaking Tribute to Princess Diana 29 Years After Her Death

Twenty-nine years after Princess Diana’s death stunned the world, her younger brother has marked the anniversary with a tribute striking in its simplicity.

On Monday, August 31, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, shared photographs of Althorp House, the Spencer family’s ancestral estate in Northamptonshire. Above the house, the family flag could be seen flying at half-mast.

His accompanying message contained only a few words: “31 August. My least favourite day.”

For millions, August 31 remains the anniversary of the death of one of the most famous women of the modern era. For Charles Spencer, however, it is also the date he lost his sister.

Diana died aged 36 following the car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. She left behind Prince William and Prince Harry, who were 15 and 12 at the time.

Althorp Falls Quiet for Diana

The setting chosen for Charles’s tribute carries enormous personal significance.

Althorp was part of Diana’s childhood and ultimately became her final resting place. She is buried privately on an island in the estate’s ornamental lake, away from the crowds that have continued to mourn her for almost three decades.

By sharing the estate with its flag lowered, Charles avoided a lengthy public statement and instead allowed the images to convey the mood of the anniversary.

It was also another reminder that, behind Diana’s status as a global figure and the enduring fascination with her royal life, her death remains an intensely personal loss for the Spencer family.

Charles has repeatedly used Althorp to preserve that more private side of his sister’s memory. He has previously spoken about the peace the estate provides William and Harry when they wish to remember their mother away from public attention.

Nearly Three Decades Since the Night That Changed Everything

Diana’s death on August 31, 1997, triggered an extraordinary outpouring of grief in Britain and around the world.

Her funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on September 6. More than two billion people worldwide were estimated to have watched as Diana’s coffin travelled through London and members of her family walked behind it.

Among the defining moments of that day was Charles Spencer’s eulogy.

Standing inside Westminster Abbey, he spoke both as Diana’s brother and as someone determined to defend the person behind the public image. One of the speech’s most remembered passages declared that Diana did not require a royal title to retain the extraordinary connection she had forged with people around the world.

Nearly 30 years later, that speech remains inseparable from Charles’s public role as one of the guardians of his sister’s legacy.

Charles Spencer Is Preparing to Tell Diana’s Story Himself

This year’s anniversary carries additional significance because Charles is preparing to publish a deeply personal account of his life with Diana.

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is scheduled for publication on September 22, 2026. Penguin describes it as the story of Diana’s life and death told from the perspective of her brother, tracing their childhood together, her transformation into a global figure and the devastating period surrounding her death.

Charles has explained that the approaching 30th anniversary of Diana’s death prompted a new wave of interview requests.

Rather than repeatedly responding to other people’s versions of his sister’s story, he decided to put his own memories on record.

“With the 30th anniversary of Diana’s tragic death on the skyline, I’ve been inundated yet again with requests for interviews about my sister,” he said when announcing the project.

He added that he wanted to record his memories “once and for all,” particularly because he believes some long-repeated accounts about Diana are based on inaccuracies that have gradually become accepted as fact.

According to Penguin Random House, the book will tell Diana’s story from Charles’s perspective and revisit the tragic week surrounding her death. It is due to be published internationally and translated into 12 languages.

From “Duch” and “Carlos” to Separate Worlds

Long before Diana became the Princess of Wales, she and Charles were simply the two youngest Spencer siblings.

The forthcoming memoir revisits that period in considerable detail. According to the publisher’s description, Charles and Diana were extremely close as children and had affectionate nicknames for one another: he called her “Duch,” while she called him “Carlos.”

They shared the upheaval of their parents’ divorce and difficult experiences at boarding school before Diana’s life changed dramatically after her relationship with the then-Prince of Wales propelled her onto the international stage.

Charles witnessed his sister become one of the most photographed women in the world, as well as a mother to William and Harry and a prominent advocate for humanitarian causes.

He also watched as her marriage deteriorated and eventually ended in divorce in 1996.

The following year, Diana was dead.

The Funeral Speech the World Remembered

Charles’s role following his sister’s death became particularly visible during her funeral.

His eulogy was emotional but also forceful, presenting Diana as someone whose influence extended well beyond the institution into which she had married.

The funeral itself became one of the most watched broadcasts in history. William and Harry joined their father, grandfather and uncle in walking behind Diana’s coffin through London — an image that has remained one of the defining photographs of the tragedy.

Charles later said he had opposed the idea of the young princes making that walk, believing the demand placed on them was too severe given their ages and grief.

Those events are part of the intensely personal territory his new memoir is expected to revisit.

Diana’s Resting Place Remains at the Heart of Althorp

After the enormous public funeral, Diana was laid to rest privately at Althorp.

Her grave sits on an island surrounded by water and trees, providing a secluded place for her family to remember her away from public view.

Charles has previously explained that he deliberately gives William and Harry privacy when they visit their mother’s resting place.

For him, one source of comfort has been knowing that Diana’s sons can come to Althorp without turning their grief into a public event.

That connection has become especially poignant again in 2026.

Harry, Meghan and their children reportedly visited Althorp during a stay in Britain earlier this summer. PEOPLE reports that the family was welcomed there in July, with Diana’s resting place forming part of the deeply personal significance of the visit.

The anniversary also falls only days after Harry returned to Britain with Meghan, Archie and Lilibet for an extended period, placing Diana’s younger son physically closer to the country where so much of his mother’s story unfolded.

William and Harry Continue to Carry Diana’s Legacy

Despite the well-documented distance that has developed between William and Harry, their mother remains an enduring connection.

In 2021, the brothers stood together in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace to unveil the statue they had jointly commissioned in Diana’s memory. The unveiling took place on what would have been her 60th birthday.

Years earlier, they had also come together for major anniversaries of her death, including a concert marking what would have been Diana’s 46th birthday in 2007 and commemorations surrounding the 20th anniversary in 2017.

There has been no official announcement about how the Royal Family or the Spencer family might mark the 30th anniversary in 2027.

For Charles Spencer, however, the approach of that milestone has already prompted him to revisit a story he has lived with for almost three decades.

“My Least Favourite Day”

There was no elaborate statement accompanying Charles’s tribute this year.

There did not need to be.

Three photographs of Althorp, a flag lowered in remembrance and five words were enough.

“31 August. My least favourite day.”

Twenty-nine years after Diana’s death, public fascination with her life remains extraordinary. Books are still being written, photographs continue to be revisited, and new generations continue discovering the woman who became known around the world as the People’s Princess.

But at Althorp on August 31, the symbolism was far more intimate.

The flag was lowered not simply for a princess whose death changed the monarchy and triggered grief around the world.

It was lowered for a sister.