Princess Diana's Brother Calls Her Movie “Terrible” as Michael Douglas Reveals Their Private Moment

0:03 Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host, Mark Francis. Charles Spencer has praised Kristen Stewart's portrayal of Diana, saying she captured his sister's spirit, even though he disliked the film itself. Speaking with journalist Tina Brown, Spencer recalled watching Spencer during a flight. I was on a plane and I saw a movie called Spencer. I thought I'd better look at that. There was Christian Stewart, who doesn't really look like Diana, but my goodness, she caught the spirit. I thought it was an incredible performance. The film is terrible, but I was really intrigued by how good she was at capturing Diana. Spencer said he has not watched The Crown, in which Emma Corrin and Elizabeth Debicki played Diana at different stages of her life. Of Corrin, he said, I'm sure she did a good job. Michael Douglas remembers apologising to Princess Diana for Gordon Gekko's language while sitting beside her at a charity screening of Wall Street. Diana's response was to laugh. In his memoir, One Hell of a Ride, Douglas shared, I remember at one point leaning over and whispering an apology to her. She was fine with it, and she could not have been kinder. I don't know how many people were in the theatre that night, but for a few hours it felt like everyone else disappeared and it was just the two of us. The time we spent together that night is very special to me.

1:24 Their first meeting had been at a London studio during post-production on A Chorus Lime. Director Sir Richard Attenborough introduced them. I found her even more beautiful in person than she was in pictures and she was also smart and funny. I remember that our conversation was easy and we got along very well. About two years later, they attended the charity screening at the Odeon in London's West End. Douglas says they also had time to speak privately over dinner when he came away with a different impression of Diana's life from the one he had seen in the press. When we were talking, everything around us faded and it became clear to me that the tabloid narratives about her were wrong, or at least wildly incomplete. The truth was simple.

2:05 She was in an unhappy marriage and wanted a different life. Douglas recalls seeing Diana only once more before her death in 1997. Charles had invited him and Melanie Griffith to a charity event, but filming delayed their arrival. When the actors were unsure where to sit, Charles and Diana graciously invited us to join them in their box. As we made our way into the royal box for the second half of the show, the entire crowd stood up and applauded All eyes on us. It was a surreal moment. I looked over at the princess and we shared a smile. Nothing that beautiful should be taken away by anything but time. It was an honor to know you, Your Royal Highness. Zara Tindall says she is trying to be less critical when coaching her children than her father was with her.

2:50 Speaking on the Talking Horse podcast, the Olympic silver medalist recalled how difficult it could be to earn praise from Mark Phillips. My father was quite critical. Very rarely you would get a, yeah, that was good, out of him. So I was always striving to try and get that comment. Both Phillips and Princess Anne competed at the highest levels of equestrian sport. Growing up, Zara was expected to take responsibility for the everyday work that came with riding. We had to do everything with them. We had to clean our tack, muck them out. If we didn't do it, we were in serious trouble. Now a mother of three, Zara says she is adjusting that approach with 12-year-old Mia, 8-year-old Lena and 5-year-old Lucas. My father was a tough coach, but I'm trying not to be quite that bad with my own kids. Princess Margaret apparently had a rather unflattering reason for avoiding champagne and her former lady-in-waiting, Lady Anne Glenconner, has decided to share it in what she says will be her final book. In Trunks and Tiaras, Lady Anne writes...

3:51 She was not a fan of champagne. She used to say it made people's breath smell of poo. Not something you'd notice if you were drinking it yourself, but easy to spot if you aren't. At 94, Lady Anne is looking back over a lifetime spent around the royal family, drawing on memories stirred by the photograph albums in her Norfolk home. Speaking to Sophia Money Coots for The Telegraph, she described childhood adventures with Margaret, royal house parties, and the homes she shared with her husband, Colin Tennant. Her friendship with Margaret began long before she became the princess's lady-in-waiting. Lady Anne grew up at Holcombe Hill near Sandringham, and remembers the two of them riding tricycles through the Marble Hall, somewhere Anne was not supposed to be playing. She said, I wasn't allowed in there, you see, but I thought if I go in there with her, they can't mind.

4:35 I remember Princess Elizabeth, she's nine, and I suppose coming down the steps and saying, What are you doing, Anne and Margaret? That's very, very naughty. Her wartime memories included being sent to Scotland with her sister Carrie, where The children developed their own ideas about what might happen if the Nazis arrived. We had this idea that Hitler loved blonde girls, and my sister and I were so blonde. The sisters, however, were sufficiently concerned to prepare mixtures of muddy water, scraps and carpet fluff in their chambers pots, imagining they could use them to poison visiting Nazi leaders. We used to practice with Carrie's teddy bear. Once they'd arrived, we would say, Oh, Mr. Hitler, we're so pleased to see you. We have a lovely drink we've been preparing for you. More Palace in just a moment. King Charles has kept two tributes to his beloved Jack Russell Tigger in the gardens at Highgrove. The dog who accompanied him while gardening died in 2002 and is buried among primroses and cowslips. A sculpted relief marks the grave while a life-size willow sculpture of Tigger stands elsewhere in the grounds.

5:42 Country Living spotted both during a visit to the Gloucestershire estate where Charles has spent more than four decades developing 15 acres of gardens. Their guide, Fiona Wharton, has worked at Highgrove for 27 years. She says Charles remains closely involved in its planting and design. He's the head gardener. When Charles arrived in 1980, the grounds included a neglected kitchen garden and overgrown copse and pasture. Today, the gardens are managed organically with practical provisions for wildlife alongside the ornamental plantings. Small willow ramps allow animals to climb out of the kitchen garden pond, while an insect shelter known as the Bee Rocket provides another habitat. There are family reminders, too.

6:22 A thatched treehouse built for William and Harry in 1988 has been restored for another generation of royal children. It's called Holyrood House, a play on the Scottish palace's name and the holly tree that originally supported it. Nearby, the Temple of Worthies honours the Queen Mother with a bronze relief showing her in a gardening hat. Charles also paints in the four-acre Wildflower Meadow. Developed with conservationist Miriam Rothschild in 1982, it began with 32 plant species and now contains more than 70, including at least seven varieties of orchid. The meadow was cut for hay in summer and grazed by sheep in autumn, helping press fallen seeds into the soil. Elsewhere, the kitchen garden supplies fruit, vegetables and flowers for the house, including scented blooms for Charles' buttonholes. An exhibition of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe has been extended until April after becoming the most visited exhibition in the Royal Collection Trust's history. Queen Elizabeth II, her life and style was originally due to finish this month. Its popularity is also drawing attention to the late Queen's enduring appeal in France. Royal Collection Director Tim Knox said, We are delighted to extend its run, ensuring that even more people from across the UK and around the world will have the chance to experience this once-in-a-generation tribute. Writing in The Spectator, Gavin Mortimer points to extensive French coverage of the exhibition and the success of a separate tribute in Cannes. That display, held at the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, attracted nearly 60,000 visitors in three months.

7:48 The Abbey was founded by William the Conqueror. Cannes' mayor, Aristide Olivier, said, The Queen has won the hearts of the people of Cannes. The interest extends beyond exhibitions. Mortimer reports that more than 8 million people in France watched Elizabeth's funeral in 2022. 9 million watched William and Kate's wedding in 2011, compared with 8 million for Harry and Meghan's in 2018. French royal commentator Stéphane Bern argues that the appeal goes beyond glamour. How many events in our country are still capable of bringing crowds together, transcending political divides, religious beliefs or social backgrounds, he asked after Elizabeth's death. If the British royal family is so popular in France, it is precisely because it embodies that symbolic power capable of uniting an entire people, a power we feel we have lost. And there you have it. If you'd like to email us, our address is thepalaceintrig at gmail.com. If you're on Spotify, leave us a comment. If you're on Apple, hit that button up there that says listen uninterrupted and get the show commercial free for just five bucks a month.

8:48 We appreciate your support. I'm Mark Francis. My thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue. Good times.