LONDON — Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer and brother of the late Princess Diana, said Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan should receive official security protection, arguing the couple now face media treatment much like the scrutiny his sister endured in the years leading up to her death.

Diana died at 36 in a 1997 Paris car crash as photographers pursued her vehicle on motorbikes, triggering an outpouring of grief and a reckoning over whether the media bore some responsibility after splashing details of her life across front pages for years.

Spencer spoke as he prepared to publish a book about Diana that is highly critical of her former husband, the now-King Charles, and after Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, returned to live in Britain six years after stepping back from royal duties and moving to the United States.

"From a security aspect, as an uncle who's seen his sister die in very, very preventable circumstances, I would veer towards protection," Spencer told the BBC, citing Harry's position as fifth-in-line to the British throne and his background as a former soldier.

He described the tabloid treatment directed at Diana, and at Harry and Meghan, as capable of being "really, really unpleasant," saying it was "beholden on people" to learn from that experience.

Spencer's Book Makes Headlines Around the World

Spencer's book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has made headlines around the world after it accused the now-King Charles of making incendiary comments in the days after Diana's death.

In the book, Spencer accused Diana's former husband, then the Prince of Wales, of sounding "giddily elated" in the hours after her death, and said an angry Charles told Spencer the world would forget Diana soon enough.

In a rare move, the palace hit back, saying the king was "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss."

Asked by the BBC how he could prove the conversations had taken place, Spencer said he had included a specific line in his much-lauded eulogy at Diana's funeral to counter the comments, ending it by saying she would "never be extinguished from our minds."

Spencer said he wrote the book, published ahead of the 30th anniversary of her death, to celebrate Diana's life. Their childhood, he said, had never had a dull moment: "We both have ADHD. She was never diagnosed, but clearly we did."

A Challenge for the King

The publication of the book, together with the surprise return of Harry and Meghan to Britain after six years living in the United States, poses a challenge for the king, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer.

Diana's family accused the royals of showing a lack of support or care toward the late princess before her death — a charge repeated by Harry and Meghan before they quit royal duties in 2020 and moved abroad.

Harry has criticized the government's decision to strip him and his family of the automatic police protection afforded to other senior royals after he quit royal duties. Following a long-running legal battle, that decision is now under review — a process whose outcome will help determine the level of official protection the couple can expect now that they are living in Britain again. Automatic, taxpayer-funded security in Britain is reserved for senior royals who carry out official duties, the distinction at the heart of Harry's court challenge.

Spencer, who recently hosted the couple, has serialized his book through the Daily Mail, months after Harry lost an expensive privacy lawsuit against the tabloid.

Spencer said his revelations about Charles would not come as a surprise to Harry or his older brother, heir-to-the-throne Prince William, adding that while he knew many more details about the king, he had chosen not to include them.

— Reuters