To the world she was an icon – to them, she was just an aunt

Princess Diana’s love of children, both her own, and other people’s was legendary, and there are numerous stories about her interactions with the younger generation.
The former Princess of Wales worked as a nanny and preschool teacher’s assistant prior to marrying Prince Charles, and relished her role as a mother to sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
But she also shared a special bond with her nieces and nephews, including the four eldest children of her brother Charles, Earl Spencer, who inherited Althorp Estate, where Princess Diana grew up and is now buried.
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At the time of her death, Princess Diana had a brood of 10 nieces and nephews to her two older sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, and younger brother, Earl Spencer.
In 1990, Diana holidayed on Necker Island with Lady Sarah and her three children, Lady Jane and her three children, and their mother, Frances Shand Kidd.
Earl Spencer had four children from his marriage to Victoria Aitken at the time of his younger sister’s death on August 31, 1997, following a Paris car crash.
The eldest of the four, Lady Kitty Spencer, was just six when her aunt died. She reflected on their relationship during an interview with Vanity Fair in 2016.
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“I was so young [when Diana was alive]. There are only a few memories, but special memories and happy memories, and I’m so lucky to have those,” she said.
During a 2021 interview with Tatler, Lady Kitty’s younger twin sisters, Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia, shared their memories of Diana, who died when they were five.
“We always just knew her as our aunt,” Lady Eliza said, adding Princess Diana secretly visited them in South Africa “on a few occasions,” including right before her death.
“She stayed with us, just before she passed away, at my father’s house here in Cape Town. We were very fortunate to have spent that time with her,” she said.
Lady Eliza told the publication her aunt was “incredibly warm, maternal and loving.”
“She always made an effort to connect with us as children and had a talent for reading children’s hearts,” she said.
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The twins recalled Princess Diana taking them to Noordhoek beach in Cape Town during one visit. There a photographer approached them.
Eager to shield her young nieces, Princess Diana did her best to escape the situation without scaring them.
“Obviously, it could have been quite terrifying for us, being so young and not understanding what was happening. But she turned it into a game of who could get back to the car first,” Lady Eliza said.
“It was amazing how she protected us in a way that made us feel safe and not frightened. We had no idea what she was doing at the time.”
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Lady Eliza said after Princess Diana’s death, she “realised the enormity of the loss for my father and family” but “it was only later that I came to understand the significance of the loss of her as a figure in the world.”
All three girls and their younger brother, Viscount Louis, attended the opening of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Garden in Hyde Park in 2000.
Diana’s nieces also attended the 2007 Concert for Diana at Wembley and the memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of her death later that year.
“It was a way to celebrate and remember her,” Lady Amelia said.
Another way they have stayed close to their aunt’s memory is through stories shared by those who knew her.
Many of the staff at Althorp worked there when Princess Diana was a child and would regale the twins with stories about their aunt.
Lady Kitty, who bears a striking resemblance to Diana, found a special way to honour her.
In 2016, she became an ambassador of the charity Centrepoint, which supports the UK’s homeless youth. Diana was the charity’s patrol before her death – a role now held by Prince William. 
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