‘Such a cancerous influence’: Diana’s brother on Harry, Meghan’s media scrutiny

Late Princess Diana's brother, Earl Charles Spencer, said in an interview published Sunday that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are facing media treatment comparable to what his sister endured, and cautioned that lessons must be drawn from that era.Diana died at age 36 in a 1997 car crash in Paris while being chased by photographers on motorbikes, an event that triggered widespread public grief and prompted questions over whether the media shared blame for her death after years of splashing details of her private life across front pages."If you look at an article in a tabloid about Diana or the couple that you were mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you know, they can be really, really unpleasant," Spencer told the BBC."And I think it would be really beholden on people to learn from Diana's example"."I'm not here to speak for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone who's being destroyed in this way daily, it must be such a cancerous influence in their life", he said.Harry, the younger of Diana's two sons, and Meghan had pointed to the effects of what they described as a toxic media environment as a factor in their decision to step back from royal duties and relocate to the United States in 2020.They subsequently took legal action against a large part of the British tabloid press, achieving mixed results, before returning to live in Britain in August.Spencer has drawn global attention over the past week following the serialization of his book, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," in the Daily Mail, in which he claims that Diana's former husband, now King Charles, sounded "giddily elated" in the hours following her death.In response, the palace stated that the king "is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."The book's release, along with Harry and Meghan's return to Britain, presents a further difficulty for the king, who continues to receive treatment for cancer.Diana's family has long claimed that the royal family failed to offer her adequate support or care before her death, an allegation supported by Harry.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.