Princess Diana’s brother reveals details of their difficult upbringing

Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer has shared details of his sister’s turbulent relationship with their mother.

The divorce of their parents was not easy for a young Princess Diana and her brother, Charles Spencer.

Spencer, 56, recently spoke to The Sunday Times about his time growing up with his late sister, who would go on to marry Prince Charles and have two sons with him, William and Harry, before their own divorce.

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Diana’s mother Frances Shand Kydd died in 2004. Picture: Getty Images.

In 1969, Diana and Spencer’s father John Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer and mother, Frances Shand Kydd split.

“Diana and I had two older sisters who were away at school, so she and I were very much in it together and I did talk to her about it,” Spencer said.

His older sisters are Lady Sarah McCorquodale, 65, and Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes, 63.

Spencer remembered his father’s parenting fondly but found his mother’s to be problematic.

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Earl Charles Spencer spoke about his upbringing in an interview with the Sunday Times on the weekend. Picture: Supplied.

“Our father was a quiet and constant source of love, but our mother wasn’t cut out for maternity. Not her fault, she couldn’t do it,” he said. “While she was packing her stuff to leave, she promised Diana (then aged five) she’d come back to see her. Diana used to wait on the doorstep for her, but she never came.”

Kydd died in 2004.

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Diana and her mother in 1993. Picture: Getty Images.

In order to do “very profound work on (his) unhappy childhood,” Spencer said he’s been ”in and out of therapy for 20 years.”

While he found the work to be “agonising and horrible,” he noted that ”the result has been cathartic.”

“Coming out the other side has been good,” he said. ”The one thing I’ve learned through all the stuff I’ve tackled is that very few people set out to be destructive.”

Until meeting his third wife, Karen Villeneuve, whom he wed in 2011, Spencer said he had “a predisposition for rescuing people” because of his rough upbringing.

“We got engaged quickly and I’m sure people thought, ‘Here he goes again,’ but I was confident,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Fox News but was reproduced here with permission.