Charles Spencer, the Earl Spencer, is Prince Harry’s uncle. The two men are apparently still close, and Harry has made a point of staying close to his mother’s sisters as well, his Aunt Jane and Aunt Sarah. My guess is that it’s generally acknowledged within both the Windsor clan and the Spencer clan that Harry has a lot of Spencer in him and a lot of Diana in him. Still, the Earl Spencer plays his cards close to the chest these days – he rarely comes out and makes big statements in defense of Harry or William either way. But that’s changed this week. First off, the Earl Spencer retweeted a thread from Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s communications guru and a significant figure in British politics. Campbell – who tangled many times with the British media – defended Harry’s position in his court testimony against the Mirror Group Newspapers. I’m not embedding the tweets, but here’s what Campbell wrote:
Prince Harry makes a very good point re the damage done to trust in your own circle when stories appear and you have no idea where they come from. Some of the biggest fall-outs I had in No 10 arose from suspicions about who was briefing out confidential information.
In several of the worst I now know that the information came not from internal sources but phone hacking or illegal blagging. Harry may not be able to prove that all of the stories referred to in court came from illegal activity. But that illegal activity was being conducted on a near industrial scale by several papers is beyond doubt. That is why I willingly gave evidence. Leveson was the chance to change media culture.
For the reasons Harry set out today – the incestuous relationship between press and government – that chance was thwarted I believe in a free press. But I also believe in the rule of law. Both are essential to a healthy democracy. If both press and politicians defend breaches of the rule of law, we do not have a healthy democracy.
[From Alastair Campbell’s Twitter]
Yep – people are acting like Harry has come out of left field and he’s making wild accusations willy-nilly. There have already been hundreds of settlements, lawsuits and admissions of guilt over the course of two decades. Harry is not the first to expose this corruption, but he’s just the loudest right now. In the midst of that retweet-storm, the Earl Spencer also retweeted this:
Some predictably mocking copy about Harry's court testimony. You'd think that, if you were employed by a newspaper group which has admitted industrial-scale criminal intrusion, you might balk at doing that…
— alan rusbridger (@arusbridger) June 7, 2023
He wasn’t done there. He also took the Mail’s Amanda Platell to task for writing some sh-t about Harry and Chelsy Davy:
Pathetic, @amandajplatell – you have no shame, and even less credibility. Last time I heard from you, you were guilty of libelling me, as your employer at @DailyMailUK agreed. Now you’re put up (by them?) to misrepresent significant legal evidence as if it was something trivial. https://t.co/rFPLEcDtk9
— Charles Spencer (@cspencer1508) June 7, 2023
So, Charles Spencer is firmly on Team Harry, especially regarding Harry’s lawsuits against the media. Remember, the Earl Spencer has successfully sued various newspapers several times too. Meanwhile, Harry’s brother, father, sister-in-law and stepmother are all incandescent with rage that Harry is suing all of their friends.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – MAY 19: Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer and Karen Spencer arrive at the wedding of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England.,Image: 515240626, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Earl Spencer at the unveiling of a statue of his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, on what would have been her 60th birthday. Picture date: Thursday July 1, 2021. .,Image: 619024591, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Earl Spencer is greeted by his nephews the Duke of Cambridge (right) and Duke of Sussex (left) as he arrives for unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, on what would have been her 60th birthday. Picture date: Thursday July 1, 2021. .,Image: 619024740, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- The Duke of Sussex with his uncle Earl Spencer, at the unveiling of a statue of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, on what would have been her 60th birthday.,Image: 619146847, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dominic Lipinski / Avalon
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- Royal Courts of Justice, London, UK. 6th June 2023. Prince Harry arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice, ahead of his lawsuit against The Mirror Group. The Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages over alleged unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking and will be the first senior British royal to give evidence in court for 130 years.,Image: 781717880, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Supplied by AVALON – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Photo by Amanda Rose / Avalon
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- Royal Courts of Justice, London, UK. 7th June 2023. Prince Harry arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice, for the second day of his lawsuit against The Mirror Group. The Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages over alleged unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking and is the first senior British royal to give evidence in court for 130 years.,Image: 781886497, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Supplied by AVALON – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Photo by Amanda Rose / Avalon
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- Royal Courts of Justice, London, UK. 7th June 2023. Prince Harry arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice, for the second day of his lawsuit against The Mirror Group. The Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages over alleged unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking and is the first senior British royal to give evidence in court for 130 years.,Image: 781886508, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Supplied by AVALON – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Photo by Amanda Rose / Avalon
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- Royal Courts of Justice, London, UK. 7th June 2023. Prince Harry arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice, for the second day of his lawsuit against The Mirror Group. The Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages over alleged unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking and is the first senior British royal to give evidence in court for 130 years.,Image: 781886529, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Supplied by AVALON – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Photo by Amanda Rose / Avalon
All I can say is FINALLY! A blood relative of Harry finally showed him some public support!! And he came out SWINGING!!
The Windsors are coming off as COMPLETE cowards and the public is noticing.
I’ll also add that it’s about bliddy time Twitter started giving context to these types of tweets. They should start looking at the tweets, of 4Takes, Levin, Eden, Gardner and Morgan. All of them have a lot to lose if Harry wins these cases.
Well done Uncle Charles. 🙂
@Laura D, yes well done uncle Charles, but stand by for the Royal bully and his father to turn on you. They won’t be happy about this, and you might find a strange two legged cow sniffing around your estate!!
It’s funny, the “added context” widget was added at the demand of people complaining about “woke,” but it’s ended being used to reveal rightwing lies. Love when that happens.
While the King and the rest of the Windsors cower in abject terror, Charles Spencer has had enough and is roaring like a lion. God for him. Good for Harry.
It might be a little late but it’s good to see that harry can at least count on one Charles. Where the media is concerned anyway. Thank you, Earl Spencer
@Laura d: twitter doesn’t add these contexts themselves. It’s been added by a twitter user that has signed him or herself up to be a contributor. I submitted a request to twitter to be added on the list as well but so far no luck.
Yes! All the people talking trash about how Harry and his kids don’t have any close family seem to forget that Harry is only half Windsor. I’m glad the other half is there for him!
@Chloe – Thanks I didn’t know that. 🙂 *Fingers crossed* you get added to the list. The more people who fact check these charlatans the better.
After CS’s ballsy and direct eulogy at Diana’s funeral no one was left in any doubt as to his inner feelings about the press the Windsor’s and the abysmal treatment his sister had undergone. He’s probably chosen to sit on the fence regarding events in recent years because of his nephews positions and to avoid taking sides but no one could ever accuse him of being actually cowed by the RF, particularly by Charles.
I’m glad he’s subtly indicated support for Harry. I just wish he’d showed similar notice to some of the racist slurs directed at Meghan over the years. A similar show of agreement with Twitter statements condemning the vile article by Clarkson, for example, would have gone a long way.
However, having said that, this must have pleased Harry and it’s better than sweet F all support which is all he gets from his father.
“I just wish he’d showed similar notice to some of the racist slurs directed at Meghan over the years.”
He was too busy being a racist pig himself. His watermelon tableaux was absolutely disgusting and, unlike Kaiser, I do not think that Harry and Charles Spencer are close (for in part, that very reason).. Charles has not received invitations to Sussex family events like his sisters have.
I’ve noticed the lack of invitations for Uncle Chuck over the years. I assumed him and Harry didn’t get along.
I recall reading something (don’t think it was Spare) that Willy had called on Uncle Charles Spencer to dissuade Harry from relationship with Meghan. So that might have been problem for a while.
Good for Uncle Charles Spencer for backing his nephew. It’s good that family is behind Harry. Well done!
Well said, Charles Spencer! I love how all the excellent people in the family still talk to and support Harry.
Which brings us to the simplest of observations: Charles Spencer will from now on be accident-prone and no longer safe, as we know how the evil tentacles of the media family + royal family habitually operate.
Meghan, Henry and Charles -the good one- have embarked on a crusade against those evil forces. Why am I getting this eery feeling that the near-catastrophic car chase was just a foretaste of what’s really brewing here…
It’s interesting that Charles Spencer has done this. He’s had the press on his side for a number of years now and he could have just remained quiet. It’s good to see him come out and support Harry like this.
I think deep down Charles is an Aristocrat and (racist) Royalist to the CORE.
But I also think he was a brother first and foremost and regrets not allowing Diana sanctuary back at Althorp because even he bought into the media lies at the time.
So whatever disagreements he has with Harry, that is her boy and his nephew so he stuck his neck out.
This is not true.
He did offer Diana his help.
That is why he sued the Dailymail as said in the tweet above.
Charles has sued ( and won 3 times) regarding the story about him not allowing Diana refuge at Althrop. That story is a lie. If you go to his Twitter it’s a pinned tweet.
Thanks @Eowyn and @Ginger did not realise that, but again it tends to prove my point.
So many bl@@dy lies.
Thanks Ginger and Eowyn, all these yrs I thought he has refused to help Diana. I ‘m glad I was wrong! Thank you Charles Spencer for helping Harry! I want Harry and the other litigants to win sooo bad🙏🏼
I agree about Charles Spencer being a racist royalist but I don’t think he stuck his neck out here just to support Harry. I think he retweeted the tweet about the impact of betrayal because of what that did to his sister Diana and how people viewed her (in large part, as being paranoid). I think Spencer responded to Patel’s tweet because they have a history and he still has an axe grind with her.
So, I am not going to interpret these tweets as Charles Spencer’s unreserved support for Harry. Charles will support Harry when he is furthering Charles’ own agenda but not when Harry and Meghan needed it desperately. And, Watermelon Wedding Man is not ever going to really support Meghan, the woman that he tried to convince Harry not to marry.
He definitely offered Diana a choice of homes on his estate. The scum media are responsible for the misinformation about that.
Yeah just finding that out. I’m not a Royalist but defo have more understanding of the machinations of the Rota and BRF and even I have been taken in by that lie.
Was it a choice of homes offered? I remember reading the original apology and I seem to recall that Spencer offered Diana one home but she preferred another that was unavailable. Am I misremembering? If anyone is interested in this I would suggest lookingl to the agreed original apology that was published and not what either the tabloids or Spencer say now. I wouldn’t trust either of them.
I don’t know if he offered her a choice of homes, but I remember that Diana wanted one home that allowed her freedom of movement, but Charles thought that it was too accessible to public scrutiny and not secure enough. And he was concerned about potential access to the estate. As a result, Diana chose not to live at Althrop and perhaps she didn’t like the other properties that Charles offered her there.
The juxtaposition is staggering. Charles Spencer is correct in publicly supporting Harry. They’re both on the right side of history, standing up against illegal press practices. Charles, William, Camilla and Kate are in dirty with the tabs. History will not look kindly upon them.
It’s fascinating! Charles Spencer knows how to play the long game and really pack his punches. I follow him on Twitter, and it’s generally all beautiful nature and archaeologists digging up things that were long buried at Althorp.
He’s going (the aristo equivalent) nuclear for his sister’s son, and I am all the way here for it. The last time he was this involved in British bullshit was his eulogy when Diana died. It’s nice to see that one person related to Harry has the spine to speak the truth. I absolutely believe that Jane and Sarah would speak out for Harry, but exactly zero people in the British media have been remotely interested in Diana’s sisters, since she died.
As always, it’s the male heirs that are respected. See also: the epic failure of England to remotely modernize.
it was a beautiful sight to see his support out in the open, there were so many retweets, hopefully that will put a stop to Harry being detached from his family.
Harry was never detached from his spencer side
I love this show of support. It highlights Windsors’ weakness & insecurity all the more.
Prince Harry should fight for the setting up of an independent state funded press regulator .
I think Levenson 2 is coming after this and there are already rumbles of people saying that UK media can only be held by UK Citizens for democratic reasons.
More elite figures should speak up like Earl Spenser. It is not Harry’s fight alone.
@NOOR, yes wouldn’t it be lovely if all those aristocrats that Charlie boy snubbed at the coronation came out and spoke in support of Harry
I’m really glad he dragged that Amanda creature. She has a very odd obsession with Chelsy. Anyone with two working brain cells knows that this trial is about a certain time period (before Meghan) and I am surprised Harry even mentioned Meghan at all, let alone 5 times.
Speaking of the number of times people get mentioned, I didn’t see Cressida Bonas listed in Harry’s court submission. I can’t remember if he referenced harassment in Spare with regards to her. Can someone enlighten me?
If I remember correctly, some senior royal reporter is Cressida’s godmother. So, Cressida has connections in british press. Maybe, that somewhat gave her some protection against media harassment.
The Rota have a sharp understanding of who they can and can’t offend.
Cressida is Aristocracy/ landed gentry so it would go sideways quickly for their sources.
Chelsy was/ is very rich SA trust fund chick who is Aristo adjacent but not a Brit and was dating Harry so she was easy fodder.
If Kate were ever to leave the family she’d be burnt toast. Non Aristo, broke family, mother who used to be an airhostess and ancestors who worked ‘below stairs’.
I love that Earl Spencer (and others!) are on Harry’s side. I hope he wins this case.
By the way, who is that gorgeous woman in purple with Earl Spencer?
His third wife.
That’s his third wife, Karen (nee Gordon). She’s a founder and CEO of Whole Child International. If you look at Spencer 1508 on YouTube you’ll see her discussing parts of Althorp and it’s history.
Superficially, I love her purple outfit.
All this talk of Harry being estranged from his family, all alone, etc. happily ignores that he has two parents, even if one of them is no longer with us.
That part is very nice!
Good for Charles Spencer — this makes me happy for Harry.
And it just throws the royals’ cowardice and complicity into even sharper relief.
Charles Spencer came through for his nephew. Yes!!! And no one will ever forget the fiery speech he made at his sister Diana’s funeral. I would love to see more of Charles Spencer doing good for his family. Good for him!
I have the impression that Harry keeps in touch with his aunts and they were at Archie’s christening and according to reports at Lili’s too. However, uncle was at neither. He declared at the funeral that the influence and care of Diana’s blood would be felt, not much has been revealed about his relationship to his nephews. Of course he may choose to be behind the scenes with his support. If the press can be believed he was rather nasty to his first wife, and then there’s the strange fact that he’s missed the weddings of first two of his daughters to be married. Harry describes his taking Meghan to visit Diana’s grave in Spare and it was very touching, especially the detail of his two aunts and uncles waving them off to the island. Of course, Diana’s grave is on his uncle’s estate. It’s none of any of our business of course, but it would be nice to know that Harry has some relatives that care about him. We know Meghan has her mother Doria and niece Ashley.
I think we need to remember that the Spencer Tiara can only be loaned out with Charles Spencer’s permission. Meghan was offered the Tiara by Harry’s Aunt’s, but they wouldn’t have been able to offer it without Charles approval.
I think Charles has been a figure in the background with Harry and Fails. I don’t think he does much publicly–he was at H&M’s wedding and I assume he was at Fails & Wails wedding(??). We have no way of knowing what he has or has not done with/for his Nephews over the years. His anger at Diana’s funeral was very real and he was practically vibrating when he gave his speech. I think he still harbor’s anger against the Windsors, especially KFC and the Escort.