Princess Diana’s Brother Defends Queen’s 'Long Overdue' Response to Her Death, Claims She Stayed at Balmoral to 'Help' Prince William and Harry 'Process' Their Grief

Queen Elizabeth garnered much controversy in August 1997 following Princess Diana's death when she decided to stay at Scotland's Balmoral Castle instead of urgently heading back down to London.

The late Princess of Wales' brother, Charles Spencer, defended the monarch in his new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, noting she stayed at the royal family's summer home to help her grandkids, Prince William and Prince Harry, work through their pain.

The 9th Earl Spencer, 62, wrote the sovereign's "first public comments on Diana's death were long overdue."

He believed there was a "feeling fostered by the tabloids" that the queen "got it very wrong" to stay at Balmoral for several days after Diana's passing.

Diana died at the age of 36 due to injuries she sustained in a car crash in Paris' Pont de l'Alma tunnel.

"The queen had done this to help William and Harry process the initial shock of grief with her in private. But front pages demanded she assume a figurehead role in the nation's mourning," Spencer penned.

He also recalled Buckingham Palace being "berated" for not flying the flag at half-mast out of respect for Diana.

While the flag is usually only flown when the queen was in residence, "this was interpreted as an insult to Diana."

The queen ultimately relayed a televised address from the Palace on September 5, 1997 — one day before Lady Di's funeral.

"Her tone was serious and respectful," Spencer looked back. "She acknowledged the 'overwhelming expression of sadness at' and 'the extraordinary and moving reaction to Diana's death.' She also looked for common ground with her audience when she said: 'I share in your commitment to cherish her memory.'"

William, now 44, and Harry, now 42, were staying at Balmoral alongside the queen, the late Prince Philip, and the then-Prince Charles when they heard the news of Diana's death.

Harry and William, who were aged 12 and 15 respectively, walked behind their mother's coffin at her funeral held at Westminster Abbey.

In an interview with People shared ahead of the publication of his memoir, Spencer stated the young princes doing the stroll at the time was not a good idea.

"Obviously they shouldn’t have walked. Nobody now can possibly think that was the right thing to do," he said. "It’s monstrous. It was awful at the time, and there was so little I could do."