Charles Spencer delivered a telling eulogy at his sisters funeral. Photo / Getty Images
Charles Spencer delivered a telling eulogy at his sisters funeral. Photo / Getty Images
The fallout continues from Harry and Meghan's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this week.
While the royal family scramble to maintain their image in a time of royal turmoil, it's become impossible to ignore that we have been here before.
In the now-infamous two-hour Oprah interview, the parallels between Meghan and Harry's story and that of Princess Diana are blindingly obvious.
Harry did not shy away from broaching the subject, telling the talk show host he "didn't want history to repeat itself" and Meghan to endure the same fate as his mother.
In the interview, a poignant Harry said his mother would be "very angry" with how the situation has played out - and may even have seen it coming.
"You asked what my mother thought of this, and I think she saw it coming," Harry said.
But it turns out that the Sussexes' departure could have been foreshadowed much earlier than this and Diana wasn't the only one who saw it coming.
At Diana's funeral, her brother Charles Spencer delivered a memorable and vengeful eulogy, where he took aim at the Royal family and spoke of his sister's desire to break free.
Diana's brother Charles spoke movingly at her funeral in 1997. Photo / Getty Images
Spencer even spoke about how the princess was looking for a "new direction" at the time of her death.
"She talked endlessly of getting away from England, mainly because of the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers. I don't think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to bring her down," Spencer said at her 1997 funeral.
"It is baffling. My own and only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this - a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age."
The most telling moment in the eulogy, however, seems to forewarn the events of the past couple of years, as Spencer pledged to protect Diana's "beloved boys" William and Harry from a similar fate.
Charles Spencer's eulogy at Diana's funeral seems to foreshadow Harry's fate. Photo / Getty Images
"We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair," Spencer said.
"And beyond that, on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as you planned."
At the conclusion of the Oprah interview, Harry shared his relief at being able to "sing openly" as Diana would have wanted.
"I'm just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side, because I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago," Harry said, adding, "because it's been unbelievably tough for the two of us."
Harry also revealed that when his family cut him off financially in early 2020, he, Meghan and 1-year-old Archie had to rely on the money Diana had left him - a sum that the Sun estimates to be around $18 million.
Charles Spencer is yet to comment on the Oprah tell-all, but he may have already had the last word 23 years ago.
