Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Princess Diana, paid respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II on social media on Thursday. Earl Spencer is perhaps best known for the moving eulogy he delivered at her funeral in 1997. Despite his denial of this and the fact that there were tensions, many believed he had targeted the royals that day.

Following news that the 96-year-old monarch had passed away in her Scottish castle on Thursday, the earl uploaded a picture of the queen to his personal Instagram account. Spencer is William and Harry's uncle, and his ex-brother-in-law Charles is now King Charles III.

In 1992, Charles Spencer succeeded his father in assuming the title of Earl Spencer. The earl and his sister Diana were frequently pictured together since they were close. The Spencers and Windsors became closer when Diana wed Prince Charles in 1981 since the two families had been friends for many decades.

John Spencer, Diana's father, had been the queen's equerry for two years, thus they were close friends. All senior members of the royal family were present during his 1954 wedding reception, which was hosted at St. James' Palace in London.

The current Earl Spencer had a closer relationship with the queen than simply being her daughter-in-brother-law because he was also the monarch's godson. Prince Charles turned to his own family for support when problems started to arise during his marriage between Diana and Prince Charles, while Diana turned to her own. 

The earl reportedly offered his sister a home among several properties, including Wormleighton Manor, so she would have a place to escape the intrusive media attention she endured in London after the tumultuous years of official separation and eventual divorce, but the princess had not moved into the residence by the time of her death.

Response to Diana's passing

The Spencer family, in addition to the royal family, became the centre of the nation's grief when Diana passed away in the early hours of August 31, 1997, having suffered catastrophic injuries as the consequence of a vehicle crash after passing through a tunnel in Paris with boyfriend Dodi Fayed.

The earl made an initial statement on behalf of the Spencer family soon after the accident when he was still living in South Africa with his family at the time of his sister's passing.

"This is not a time for recriminations, but for sadness," he began. "However, I would say that I always believed the press would kill her in the end”.

"But not even I could imagine that they would take such a direct hand in her death as seems to be the case”.

"It would appear that every proprietor and editor of every publication that has paid for intrusive and exploitative photographs of her, encouraging greedy and ruthless individuals to risk everything in pursuit of Diana's image, has blood on their hands today. "The one consolation is that Diana is now in a place where no human being can ever touch her again. I pray that she rests in peace."

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