Earl Spencer shares unseen childhood picture of Princess Diana - on anniversary of her wedding to King Charles
Charles Spencer has shared a sweet unseen snap of him and his sister, the late Princess Diana, Princess of Wales, on the day of her wedding anniversary to King Charles.
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Spencer shared the throwback picture of him and his sister standing next to a swimming pool in their bathing suits on Instagram.
The sweet black-and-white snap shows the brother and sister pair in the garden of their childhood home, Park House, Sandringham, where their neighbours were the Royals.
"A long ago summer, by the swimming pool at our childhood home, Park House, Sandringham.
“Diana and I both proudly showing off our swimming badges (sewn onto our swimming costumes).
"These were awarded (sparingly) by Mrs Lansdowne, a fairly terrifying but very gifted swimming instructor, who came to stay each year.
"We were never out of that pool.”
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The picture was posted on what would have been the 44th wedding anniversary of Princess Diana and King Charles, who were married on July 29, 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral.
He is known to share family photos to his almost 280,000 followers on the site regularly, and many flooded the comments of the post with sweet remarks and tributes to the late Princess.
“This is so adorable… having beautiful childhood memories with no cares in the world. Sibling love xx,” one wrote.
“Princess Diana will always be in our hearts forever,” another said.
“Mrs Landsdowne did a terrific job. Diana always looked fearless around water, diving off yachts into the sea,” a third added.
Many commenters compared the siblings to Prince George and Princess Charlotte, with one writing: "Well, I definitely see Prince George in you there.”
“I too see Prince George in the pic of you Charles. Such a lovely photo of you and Diana,” another added.
Just three weeks ago, on what would have been Diana’s 64th birthday, Earl Spencer shared another lovely snap of him and his sister and their father.
The black-and-white photo shows the pair sitting on top of a camel, which was brought in for Diana on her 6th birthday party.
"Another July 1st, from long ago - 1967,” the caption read.
“In fact: for Diana's 6th birthday party, my father (standing, left) - to huge excitement - secured the services of Bert the Camel, from Thorney Wildlife Park, in Peterborough.”
Earlier this year, the Earl opened up about the loss of his sister, saying the death of Princess Diana felt like “an amputation.”
Diana died in the early hours of August 31, 1997 after being injured in a crash in a road tunnel in Paris.
Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene while their bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived with serious injuries.
Speaking about his grief on ITV's Loose Men, Spencer, 60, said: "It's such an amputation. You grow up with these people, they are your flesh and blood, they're with you forever, and then they're gone.
"You expect obviously first grandparents and then parents to go, and there's the awful tragedy... of children going, but siblings, it's a really extraordinary thing.
"For years after Diana died, I would think, 'Oh I must ring her and tell her something' because we shared the same sense of humour, and you just realise of course that's not going to happen.
"I have two sisters who I adore but they're quite a lot older than me, so I don't share my childhood with anyone anymore, and that's a great loss that you can never really put right.