Earl Spencer has appeared on Loose Men, and spoken of grieving his sister, the late Princess Diana - saying losing her was “an amputation”.
Earl Charles Spencer, 59, appeared on the ITV show alongside Sam Thompson, Dr Amir Khan and Craig Doyle for a special episode aired during Mental Health Awareness Week.
Diana, the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry, was 36 when she was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
“It’s such an amputation,” he said. “You grow up with these people, they are your flesh and blood, they’re with you forever, and then they’re gone.
“You expect obviously first grandparents and then parents to go, and there’s the awful tragedy you mentioned of children going, but siblings, it’s a really extraordinary thing.
“For years after Diana died, I would think, ‘Oh I must ring her and tell her something’ because we shared the same sense of humour and you just realise of course, that’s not going to happen.”
He also said it’s especially tough given their three-year age difference. Earl Spencer’s other siblings are Lady Sarah McCorquodale, 70, and Lady Jane Fellowes, 68.
He added: “I have two sisters who I adore but they’re quite a lot older than me, so I don’t share my childhood with anyone anymore, and that’s a great loss that you can never really put right.”
When asked by Doyle how he dealt with wanting to protect his sister, he added: “I remember just before she died, a female journalist wrote a really horrendous article, because by that stage I don’t think that journalist was thinking of Diana as a person, she was something to make money off or whatever, and I wrote to her in outrage…
“I think particularly as a brother of a sister, you always feel like you want to get stuck in really.”
Speaking before the show, Earl Spencer said it was a honour to be asked on the special programme.
“What a privilege to be part of the quartet with Craig, Dr Amir and Sam,” he said.
“It’s quite humbling to be part of a programme that will hopefully encourage many men to take good care of themselves but it will be great fun and I’m looking forward to every minute of it.”
The programme, a rebrand of Loose Women, first launched on International Men’s Day on November 19 2020.
