Aug. 30, 2026

Is Princess Diana’s Family Becoming Harry and Meghan’s New Royal Support System?

Show Notes
Transcript

Could the Spencer family provide Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet with the family network they have lost within the House of Windsor? We examine Harry’s relationships with Earl Spencer, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Lady Jane Fellowes and Diana’s extended family—and why the Spencers may represent one of the few remaining bridges between Harry and Prince William.

Princess Diana’s niece Lady Eliza Spencer says she is delighted to have the Sussexes back in Britain. Could her approaching wedding bring both of Diana’s sons together?
Plus, a newly discovered letter reveals Diana’s hope that William and Harry would learn to communicate “on a deep level.” Could the 30th anniversary of her death finally inspire a reconciliation—or has William decided that Harry belongs permanently in his past?

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Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

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Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host,

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Mark Francis. The Daily Mail tells us to be on

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the lookout for a new Sussex squad. The idea is

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the Sussexes may find a warmer family network on Princess

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Diana's side, particularly through Earl Spencer and Diana's sisters, Lady

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Sarah McCorkadale and Lady Jane Fellows. Harry and Meghan stayed

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at Walthorpe House during their July visit to Britain, hosted

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by Earl Spencer. The Spencer side of the family has

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generally remained close to Harry, even as his relationship with

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Prince William has deteriorated. Archie and Lilibet could find themselves

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spending more time with a large group of maternal cousins.

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Lady Sarah McCorkadale, Diana's older sister, has remained close to

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both William and Harry. She attended the christenings of Archie

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and Lilibet and was also present for the unveiling of

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Diana's statue in 2021. Harry gave Lady Sarah, Lady Jane

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and Earl Spencer what he called a standout thanks in spare.

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Lady Jane Fellows has also remained important in Harry's life.

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She gave a reading at Harry and Meghan's 2018 wedding,

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and Meghan spoke at the time about getting to know

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Diana through Harry's aunts. Meghan said, I think in being

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able to meet his aunts, I'm able to, in some way,

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know a part of her through them, and of course

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through him, and it's incredibly special. Harry also quietly returned

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to Britain in 2024 for the funeral of Jane's husband,

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Lord Fellows. On that trip, he stayed at Althorpe rather

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than with members of the royal family. Beyond Harry's aunts

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and uncle, there are six first cousins on the Spencer side.

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Lady Sarah's children are Emily, George and Celia McCorkadale. George

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is almost exactly Harry's age and has reportedly remained close

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to him over the years. Harry attended George's stag party

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and wedding. George has previously spoken about family holidays with

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his royal cousins. Lady Jane's children are Laura, Alexander and

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Eleanor Fellows. Laura is especially close to William and Catherine

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and is one of Princess Charlotte's godmothers, meaning the Spencer

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family remains one of the relatively few bridges connecting both

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sides of the William-Harry divide. Between those six cousins, there

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are a dozen younger children, giving Archie and Lilibet a

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sizeable extended family close to their own generation. So while

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much of the attention surrounding the Sussex return is focused

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on whether Harry can rebuild ties with King Charles or

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Prince William, another part of the story, Maybe simpler. Princess

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Diana's niece, Lady Eliza Spencer, says she is excited to

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have Harry and Meghan back in Britain and hopes the

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Sussexes' return will give the family more opportunities to spend

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time together. Lady Eliza spoke to the Daily Mirror on

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Wednesday evening, just hours after Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet

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arrived in Britain from California. Asked about how she felt

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about having her cousin back in the country, she said, Absolutely.

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It's exciting. We would love to be able to find

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some time to visit. Lady Eliza is one of Charles

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Spencer's daughters and was only five when Diana died in

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Paris in 1997. And there is now an interesting possibility

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that another Spencer family occasion could eventually put both of

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Diana's sons in the same place. Lady Eliza is engaged

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to tech executive Channing Millard and the couple are beginning

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to plan their wedding. Italy is apparently among the locations

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they are considering. Eliza has launched a rosÃ© brand, just

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like cousin Harry's wife. Asked whether she might exchange winemaking

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tips with the Duchess of Sussex, Lady Eliza replied, maybe.

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Lady Eliza explained that her own brand has a strong

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family connection. Lala was the childhood nickname given to her

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by her younger brother, Samuel, who couldn't pronounce Eliza. The

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V represents both her middle name, Victoria, and her mother, Victoria,

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as well as the French word V meaning life. She said,

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it's incredibly special to see something that started as a

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little dream between the two of us come to life.

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La La Vie really came from our shared love of RosÃ©,

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but also everything that surrounds it. Travelling, discovering people, places

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and food, long lunches in the sunshine and those moments

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when you look around the table of the people you love.

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We wanted to bottle a little bit of that feeling.

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It creates something that felt elegant and special and still fun,

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relaxed and never too serious. Ultimately, La La Vie is

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about enjoying life, Beautiful food and wine, travelling somewhere special.

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Celebrating the little things and most importantly spending time with

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the people you love. This really does feel like the

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beginning for us and we have so many dreams for

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where we would love to take La La Vie. Sounds

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like she'll get along with Megan just fine. More palace

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in just a moment. A newly surfaced letter from Princess

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Diana has taken on a rather striking significance more than

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three decades after she wrote it because... In it, Diana

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talks specifically about something she hoped to teach William and Harry,

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how to communicate with one another on a deeper level.

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The letter dates from November 1995, just one week after

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Diana's extraordinary panorama interview with Martin Bashir, watched by an

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estimated 23 million people in Britain. Michael Baratt had written

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to Diana after watching the interview, offering encouragement and telling

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her that life would improve. Diana replied after returning from

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a trip to Argentina. and her response gives us a

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glimpse of what she was thinking about her sons during

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one of the most turbulent periods of her life. Diana wrote,

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I returned from Argentina this morning to find your lovely

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letter awaiting me. The content touched me deeply as your

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words were profound. Plus, I was particularly able to relate

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to the point you made about self-knowledge, plus the price

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of moving on in life. I hope the Panorama interview

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will help, plus support the many women out there who

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are or have gone through similar difficulties as myself. I

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look forward to the future, where I will have the

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opportunity of sharing my knowledge, plus teaching William plus Harry

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the importance of communicating on a deep level. The support,

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plus understanding you have shown in your letter, is invaluable,

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plus I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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With best wishes, yours sincerely, Diana. The letter itself has

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changed hands quite recently. According to the Telegraph, it sold

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through an auction house in Essex for Â£ 5, 330 in June,

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and is now being offered again by University Archives in Connecticut.

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with the next sale scheduled for September 9th. Prince William

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may have little interest in using the anniversary of Princess

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Diana's passing to reconcile with Prince Harry. That is the

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view of royal author Phil Dampier, who told the Daily Mail,

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William and Harry put aside their differences for the unveiling

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of the statue of their mother, Princess Diana, five years ago,

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but things are much worse now. I think William would

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find it very hard to meet Harry, even to honour

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Diana's memory. Next year marks the 30th anniversary of her death,

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so that would be an obvious time for them to

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try and heal their rift and at least be seen together,

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but I don't think William's heart is in it. Friends

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tell me that as far as he is concerned, Harry

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is the past, and he is only concerned about the

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future for his wife Catherine and their children, George, Charlotte

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and Louis. He will never forgive Harry, in my opinion,

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and not just for leaving the royal family, but for

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the dirt he dished out in his book Spare, the

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Netflix show and the Oprah Winfrey interview. It led to

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Catherine being smeared as a racist, and he will never

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forget that. Next year also brings the Invictus Games to Birmingham.

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Harry is reportedly hoping King Charles will attend, but Dampier

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believes there is virtually no chance William would appear. He said,

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Charles may use Queen Camilla's 80th birthday as an excuse

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not to be present, but one thing is certain, William

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won't be there. He will make sure he is far away,

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so there is no doubt he could make it. Diana

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biographer Andrew Morton tells Times Radio, Morton said William felt

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utterly abandoned by Harry, adding, it will take a long,

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long time for him to recover from that. I think

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William has been deeply hurt by what Harry wrote and

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said about him, especially given the medical condition of Catherine

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and his father. Morton says Harry's decision to return to

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Britain itself did not surprise him. He said Harry had

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been sending several smoke signals, suggesting that he wanted to

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spend more time in his home country. What did surprise

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Morton was how quickly the Sussexes appear to have acted.

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Morton said, I find it amazing that they've chosen schools,

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somewhere to live, move the whole place out without sticking

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their toe in the water first. Morton believes Harry could

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nevertheless be considerably happier operating from Britain. He's back with

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his friends, his family, members of his family that he

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still gets on with. Obviously not William, Morton said, and

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he can do his charity work. He's got the Invictus

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Games coming up in Birmingham next year. That's going to

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take a lot of organising, so he's a happy camper.

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And there you have it. If you are listening on Spotify,

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appreciate the support and you can try it free for

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30 days. I'm Mark Francis. My thanks to John McDermott.

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This is Palace Intrigue and good times.

Is Princess Diana’s Family Becoming Harry and Meghan’s New Royal Support System?

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