Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer shares poignant photo alongside the late royal

Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer has shared a poignant snap of the royal online – days ahead of the release of the latest controversial series of The Crown.

The Earl Spencer, who is the younger sibling of the late Princess of Wales, inherited the family seat of Althorp estate in Northamptonshire on the death of his father in 1992 and lives there with his third wife, Karen, and their daughter Lady Charlotte. 

Days ago, he shared an 1989 snap as he posed alongside his sister and their father at an event to mark his 65th birthday, calling it a ‘deeply poignant photograph’.

His post came as Princess Diana’s friends slammed the ‘insensitivity’ of Netflix after crews from The Crown were spotted filming the moments leading up to her fatal car crash – just 100 yards from the Paris tunnel where she died 25 years ago. 

Writing the post online, he commented: ‘Today is All Souls Day – when it’s customary to remember the souls of those you love, who’ve departed: it is known in some parts of the world as the Day of the Dead. 

‘A deeply poignant photograph for me from the summer of 1989, when there was a party at Althorp to mark my father’s 65th birthday earlier that year.’

In the snap, Charles can be seen seated alongside his father and the Princess of Wales.

The fifth series of The Crown, which will cover the years leading up to Princess Diana’s 1995 Panorama interview, has already sparked anger before its release on November 9.

The fifth series of The Crown, which will cover the years leading up to Princess Diana’s 1995 Panorama interview, has already sparked anger before its release on November 9

Acting royalty Dame Judi Dench, who is close to King Charles and Camilla, accused the programme of being ‘crude and hurtful’.

Dame Judi, 87, who has played Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, told The Times the series risked damaging the monarchy. The Oscar-winning actress blamed it for ‘crude sensationalism’ and blurring fact and fiction.

Former Prime Minister Sir John Major criticised a scene which shows him having a conversation with then Prince Charles about the possibility of the Queen abdicating as ‘malicious nonsense’.

Amid growing controversy about the way The Crown blurs reality and fiction, Netflix recently updated its description of the series to add a disclaimer to its trailer on YouTube which says it is a ‘fictional dramatisation’.

Charles previously said he had concerns viewers of the series – particularly the US audience – will not appreciate the ‘invention and conjecture’ used in the programme (pictured, Charles, Diana and Charles) 

The previous fourth series of the drama was criticised for not doing enough to tell viewers it was a work of fiction.

A new cast is in place for series five and six of The Crown, with Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki playing Diana and Dominic West as Charles.

The sixth series, currently being filmed, will cover Diana’s death in 1997 and reportedly end with the wedding of Charles and Camilla in 2005.

Onlookers last week Netflix crews were seen filming between 2am and 3am around 100 yards from the Alma tunnel, where Diana died in the early hours of August 31, 1997.

The pictures show a black Mercedes like the one the couple were travelling in on that tragic day being filmed in another nearby tunnel on the same road.

Elizabeth Debicki wears sunglasses and looks the image of Diana as she sits in the back of a car with Khalid Abdalla, 40, who plays Dodi Fayed, who the princess was travelling with when the car crashed in Paris

Netflix has insisted the ‘exact moment’ of the crash will not feature in the controversial drama, which has recently come under fire for sensationalism and inaccuracy 

Netflix has insisted the ‘exact moment’ of the crash will not feature in the controversial drama, which has recently come under fire for sensationalism and inaccuracy.

A friend of Diana’s said the show’s makers could face accusations of ‘insensitivity’ over the filming in Paris. Debbie Frank, who was Diana’s astrologer, said it would be ‘terrible’ for Princes William and Harry to see a recreation of the moments leading up to their mother’s death.

‘It’s obviously terrible for Diana’s children to have to see that again. It’s insensitive,’ she said.

She added: ‘I feel Diana’s death and the crash was the biggest shock our generation. It had such a huge impact across the national psyche.

‘I guess the makers of The Crown feel they are entitled to show a re-enactment of scenes leading up to her death and that it has dramatic impact. But relatives would think otherwise.’ 

The Crown has been a huge hit for Netflix. Each episode now costs around £11.5million.

The Crown has been a huge hit for Netflix. Each episode now costs around £11.5million (pictured, Diana in the new series)  

Charles previously said he had concerns viewers of the series – particularly the US audience – will not appreciate the ‘invention and conjecture’ used in the programme.

Appearing as a guest on Love Your Weekend on Sunday with Alan Titchmarsh in 2020, Charles said: ‘The worry for me is that people see a programme like that and they forget that it is fiction.

‘They assume, especially foreigners, I find Americans tell me they have watched The Crown as if they have taken a history lesson. Well, they haven’t.

‘It is very hard, there is a lot of conjecture and a lot of invention, isn’t there? You can hang it on fact but the bits in between are not fact.’

Spencer also reveals during his appearance on the show that he turned down a request from the shows producers to film at Althorp, his family’s stately home.

‘The Crown asked if they could film at Althorp and I said obviously not.’

Diana’s brother feels it is his duty to protect the legacy of his sister who died in a car accident in 1997.

He said: ‘I feel it is my duty to stand up for her when I can. She left me for instance as guardian of her sons etc, so I feel there was a trust passed on.

‘And we grew up together, you know if you grow up with somebody they are still that person, it doesn’t matter what happens to them later. So yeah, I feel very passionately that I have a role to honour her memory.’