Charles Spencer pays tribute to late sister Princess Diana on 29th anniversary of her death
Princess Diana died after being fatally injured in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France, on August 31, 1997, alongside her 42-year-old partner, film producer Dodi Fayed, and their 41-year-old driver, Henri Paul.
Charles Spencer has paid tribute to his late sister Princess Diana.
The 36-year-old Princess of Wales died after being fatally injured in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France, on August 31, 1997, alongside her 42-year-old partner, film producer Dodi Fayed, and their 41-year-old driver, Henri Paul.
Taking to Instagram 29 years later, Diana's 62-year-old brother shared a shot of a flag being flown at half-mast over their childhood home, Althorp House, in West Northamptonshire, England.
Charles captioned the post: "31 August. My least favourite day."
Last October, the 9th Earl Spencer told how he hates it when people tell him where they were when his sister died.
On an episode of 78-year-old broadcaster Gyles Brandreth's Rosebud podcast, Charles explained: "I try and be really busy on the 31st of August because it's just terribly sad, really.
"I tell you what I do find quite difficult, and this probably sounds ungracious, but occasionally, total strangers come up and feel they must tell me where they were when they heard that she died, sort of thing.
"And I'm sure that's helpful to them. It's not entirely helpful to everyone else."
Charles then recalled a woman from South Dakota, USA, claiming to him that she grew up in the north-central state with Diana, who is buried on a small, tree-covered island in the centre of the oval lake on the Althorp Estate.
He said: "And I had, actually, this year, I had - I mean, it's comic really - I had a lady from South Dakota, who clutched me to her ample bosom, and said that I may have thought I grew up with Diana, but actually she did in South Dakota.
"So you just have to smile. It doesn't matter."
Gyles, a former UK Conservative Party Member of Parliament, revealed his neighbour still has a shrine to Diana in his home, which the "successful businessman" created following her death.
He shared: "It's a curious thing. I have a neighbour in my part of South London who's got a shrine to her in his home, which he has kept since 1997 with candles and flowers and photographs of her.
"This is a successful businessman."
Charles reacted: "It's extraordinary, isn't it?"
He puts Princess Diana's popularity down to how relatable she was to millions of people across the world.
Charles said: "I think it's different things to different people.
"And I think particularly to women of a similar age, they really invested their lives in hers.
"So they ran, maybe they had an unhappy marriage. Maybe they battled an eating disorder [Princess Diana battled bulimia]. There was plenty of Diana to look into and take your bit out of, almost like a horoscope, you know. You can make it make sense for you."
He added: "Julian Fellowes, if I may quote him a second time, he's a close friend of mine. And he said, 'I think part of her appeal, of course, you know, she married into the royal family, she was beautiful and, you know, very charismatic.'
"But he also said, like the great film stars, there was something unhappy in there that really triggered an emotional response."
Diana was married to then-Prince Charles from 1981 until 1996, and they had two sons, William, Prince of Wales, 44, and 41-year-old Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
Charles Spencer - who will tell the story of Diana's life in his upcoming book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister - is the youngest of five children born to John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd.
He grew up with his three older sisters - Lady Sarah McCorquodale, the eldest, 71, followed by Lady Jane Fellowes, 69, and Diana, who was born in 1961.
He also had an older brother named John, but he died just hours after his birth in 1960.
