Charles Spencer Calls Princess Diana’s Death an ‘Amputation’ in Heartbreaking New Interview

Charles Spencer, the younger brother of Princess Diana, is opening up like never before about the pain of losing her — and the grief he still carries nearly 30 years after her tragic death.

The 9th Earl Spencer appeared on Loose Men, a special edition of the UK talk show Loose Women, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week. In a deeply emotional conversation, the 60-year-old historian and author described his sister’s death as something that left him permanently altered.

“It’s such an amputation,” he said. “You grow up with these people — they’re your flesh and blood — and suddenly, they’re gone.”

Diana was just 36 when she died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, chased by paparazzi in a tragedy that shocked the world. But for Charles, the heartbreak was personal — and enduring. He recalled how, even years after her passing, he’d catch himself wanting to call her just to share a laugh.

“We shared the same sense of humor,” he said. “For years, I’d think, ‘I must ring her and tell her something,’ and then you realize — of course, that’s never going to happen.”

Charles also reflected on the toll Diana’s death took on his sense of family. He described how, with the loss of their parents and their shared history, he feels a gap that no one else can quite fill.

“I have two older sisters who I adore, but they’re quite a lot older. I don’t share my childhood with anyone anymore. That’s a great loss you can never really put right.”

Charles and Diana were the youngest of four children born to John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd. A family photo from 1968 captures them as children — an image that’s especially poignant now as he looks back on a time that feels so distant.

The conversation turned emotional when Charles was asked how he handled seeing his sister judged so publicly throughout her life. Diana became a global icon after marrying Prince Charles at just 20 and faced relentless press attention, often cruel and invasive.

Charles recalled feeling protective, even as a teenager.

“I remember writing an outraged letter to a journalist who published a truly horrendous article about her. By then, I don’t think that journalist saw her as a person — just someone to make money from.”

He added, “I think, especially as a brother of a sister, you just want to get stuck in and defend them.”

Charles, who became Earl Spencer after his father’s death in 1992, famously delivered a powerful eulogy at Diana’s funeral, where he slammed the media and vowed her sons, William and Harry, would be raised with dignity and freedom — “so that their souls can sing openly, as you planned.”

Last year, Charles released his memoir A Very Private School, detailing his own childhood trauma at boarding school — something he said he never shared with Diana.

“I never told her,” he admitted to PEOPLE. “That’s a conversation we never had.”

Though Diana is long gone, the grief remains raw — not just for a lost sister, but for a bond that shaped Charles’ life in ways few can truly understand.