Princess Diana Was 'Dreadfully Hurt' After Losing HRH Title Post-Divorce, Brother Charles Spencer Claims in New Memoir

When Princess Diana divorced the then-Prince Charles in 1996, she lost her HRH title as she was no longer the wife of Queen Elizabeth's heir.

According to her brother Charles Spencer's newest memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, the late Princess of Wales felt gutted after her regnal titles were taken away.

"The removal of Diana’s title had hurt her," as the "loss was designed to emphasize to her, and the world, that her royal days were over," the 9th Earl Spencer, 62, penned in his book.

"She, who had been recognized around the world as such a singular asset to the royal family (apart from by some of that institution’s more jealous members) should, they believed, just accept that she had been returned to the ranks as a commoner," he went on.

Spencer also claimed the queen wanted Diana, who died in August 1997 at the age of 36 following a traumatic car crash in Paris, to be buried at Windsor Castle's Frogmore estate.

However, the Spencer family desired for her to be laid to rest at their ancestral home, Althorp, in Northamptonshire, U.K.

"Having had her HRH title removed as part of the package of humiliation handed to her at her divorce, almost a year to the day before her death, Diana was no longer eligible for royal Frogmore," Spencer authored.

Diana and Charles, 77, tied the knot in July 1981 at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and split in 1992 before finalizing their divorce four years later.

Elsewhere in his biography, Spencer alleged the queen offered to posthumously restore her HRH moniker after her passing.

The British peer noted he was approached by Robert Fellowes, who was the queen’s private secretary at the time, on the Royal Train back to Althorp following Diana's funeral.

"When we had gone some miles, Robert beckoned me to follow him into a quiet corner of the carriage," Spencer wrote. "'I have just received a call from Her Majesty,' he said, in the grave tone that he always adopted when talking about the queen, 'and she would like to offer Diana her HRH title back.'"

“She had been dreadfully hurt by the removal of that title as she exited her marriage,” Spencer recalled. “It had seemed so petty and vindictive. While she was no longer to be married to one future king, she would always be mother to another.”

He continued: "After a moment, I felt that I knew in my bones how she would view this posthumous award: 'That’s very kind of the queen, of course. But what’s the point, Robert? Now? I mean — Diana’s dead.' He nodded and looked down, then said: 'I thought you might say that.'"

“The title should never have been removed during her life, in which case it would not have been necessary to offer it to her in death," Spencer said.