'Deprived Diana of a Home': Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer's legal victory

The brother of the late Princess Diana, Charles Spencer, poses with her wedding dress. Photo / Getty Images

Charles Spencer, the brother of Princess Diana, has had a legal win in his fight to uphold his sister's legacy.

Spencer announced this week that he had won a case against The Times' false claim that he'd denied Diana a home following the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles.

In an article headlined "It's too simple to blame everything on Bashir", The Times also wrongly suggested the Earl had failed to protect Diana from now-infamous BBC Panorama reporter Martin Bashir.

Bashir was recently found to have used "deceitful methods" to secure his controversial 1995 interview.

The Times article also incorrectly implied that in failing to protect his sister, Spencer was partly to blame for her 1997 death.

The earl took to Twitter to share the verdict and correction.

"Today, for the third time, a paper has been forced by the law to apologise for lying about me 'depriving Diana of a home'."

Today, for the third time, a ‘paper has been forced by the Law to apologise for lying about me “depriving Diana of a home”. The guilty journalist this time? Janice Turner - aka ⁦@VictoriaPeckham⁩ of ⁦@thetimes⁩
Yellow journalism. pic.twitter.com/YUuxPz9QUB

— Charles Spencer (@cspencer1508) July 29, 2021

He also included a link to a story in the newspaper's "Corrections and Clarifications" section. Which stated the article "wrongly stated that Earl Spencer had refused to assist Diana, Princess of Wales, with the offer of a house after the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles".

"We are happy to report that having considered his sister's safety, and in line with police advice, the earl offered the Princess of Wales a number of properties including Wormleighton Manor, the Spencer family's original ancestral home," The Times continued.

"It was wrong to suggest he had refused to help his sister or had failed to protect her from Martin Bashir and concealed evidence of the latter's deception. We did not intend to suggest that the earl was to blame for his sister's death. We apologise to the earl and have agreed to pay his costs as well as make a payment to him which he will donate to charity."

Lady Karen Spencer and Earl Charles Spencer. Photo / Getty Images

Court proceedings showed that the earl had refused his sister's request to use The Garden House cottage on his Althorp estate because the home was needed by a member of staff.

The earl offered Diana the use of other homes on the Althorp estate, including a 16th-century mansion but she ultimately decided against staying in any of the properties.

Despite this latest victory, Spencer says the case is far from settled. Replying to one commentator on Twitter and suggesting The Times should pay "substantial" damages but were "haggling".