Earl Spencer defends Prince Harry and Meghan Markle against 'cancerous influence'
Earl Spencer defends Prince Harry and Meghan Markle against 'cancerous influence'
Sophia Papamavroudi Sun, September 20, 2026 at 7:39 PM UTC
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The Sussexes were defended by Earl Spencer (Image: Getty)
Earl Spencer has stated that the media's treatment of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle "echoes" how the press handled his sister, the late Princess Diana.
During a BBC interview scheduled to air Sunday evening, the earl characterized press coverage of Harry and Meghan as possessing a "cancerous influence," suggesting it would be "beholden on people to learn from Diana's example."
He stated: "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. And I think it would be really beholden on people to learn from Diana's example." This comes as Prince William is 'beyond furious' as Earl Spencer makes shocking royal claims.
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"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."
The earl revealed Diana was "really brought low" by the "criticism" she faced from the media, calling it a "pity" to witness "echoes of that" in press treatment of Harry and Meghan.
The Sussexes, who traveled back to the UK from the US on August 26, have consistently criticized their media treatment, with Harry telling Oprah Winfrey in 2021 that the tabloid press had fostered a "toxic environment," reports the Express.
Earl Spencer spoke to the BBC (Image: BBC)
In July, he and six additional individuals, including Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley, were unsuccessful in a privacy lawsuit against the Daily Mail's publisher, though Harry has secured victories in previous legal disputes against the Mirror Group and News Group.
The earl's most recent remarks follow his accusation that the King gaslit him after Buckingham Palace responded to explosive allegations that Charles said "we'll forget her soon enough" following Diana's death.
The earl has leveled a series of damaging accusations against the King in a new memoir detailing Diana's life, which prompted the palace to issue a rebuttal, stating "the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason."
He accused the King of gaslighting him and described the response as a "rather poor imitation of the 'recollections may vary' quote" - the late Queen's answer to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's claims during their Oprah Winfrey interview, The Mail on Sunday reports.
He stated: "It is not every day you wake up to find you've been gaslit by the King.
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"It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I'd lied without the King being able to deny what I'd said.
"I also thought it was a rather poor imitation of the 'recollections may vary' quote, which was a much more elegant way of putting things, but in these circumstances entirely out of place."
He also stated "Diana would be cheering from the rafters at this book."
Responding to allegations made in the memoir, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson stated on Wednesday: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty 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."
In a segment from the BBC interview released on Friday, the earl maintained he is "telling the truth" and characterized the King's remarks about his sister as "monstrous".
Discussing an alleged dispute over Diana's funeral arrangements involving her sons, the earl stated: "(The King) went ballistic, would be the right term, and started really going for my family as a whole, about their sense of duty, not being adequate enough, and ranted for a while, I have no idea how long, but it was a significant period, and I just listened.
"And then he stopped, and I thought, 'Oh now he's going to pull himself together and say something more appropriate.'
"And then he said, 'We'll forget her soon enough.'"
When questioned whether he has "evidence" of the King's remarks, the earl told the BBC: "I told friends and family straight away, close friends and family, about what had been said, because it was so monstrous."
He continued: "I'm telling the truth."
Charles allegedly made these comments about his former wife during a disagreement with the earl regarding whether the then Prince William and Prince Harry should follow Diana's funeral cortege.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
