Earl Spencer sent royal fans into a frenzy after sharing a childhood photo with Princess Diana where the late royal looks “just like Princess Charlotte.”
Princess Diana’s younger brother, 59, posted a sweet photo of him and Diana from 1967 on Instagram.
The touching image showed Charles, aged three, wearing a plaid blouse, shorts and sandals.
In the picture, the earl is happily sitting on a swing in the garden of the Althorp estate in West Northamptonshire while Diana stands by his side.
The late Princess of Wales donned a white linen t-shirt and shorts with a pair of flip-flops as she gave the camera a sweet smile.
Princess Diana’s brother shared an adorable photo with his late sister as children and royal fans are convinced Princess Charlotte is her lookalike.
The children were in the care of their mother, Frances Kydd, who was 31 years old at the time.
The post read: ‘My mother, Diana and I, in 1967. I would have been 3 and Diana 5 or 6. I love how happy each of us look.
“At this stage in my life, my mother nicknamed me ‘Buzz’, because she saw in me the infinite energy of a rather happy and busy bee.”
Many rushed to the comments to point out the resemblance between Diana and Prince William’s daughter Charlotte.
One person wrote: ‘Diana looks like Charlotte. Great memory!’ Another said: ‘That was the first thing I thought. Charlotte looks like her grandmother, Princess Diana.
Someone else wrote: “That’s what I think for Charlotte is a combination of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana.” A fourth wrote: ‘You can really see Princess Charlotte dressed as Diana in this photo!!’
It’s not the first time royal fans have noticed the resemblance between the two, as many thought Charlotte looked like her late grandmother at the King’s Coronation last year.
Many shared an image of Charlotte’s grandmother, who died in 1996, when she was around 10 years old.
However, many commented that Diana, who is six years old in the black and white photograph, bore a striking resemblance to her granddaughter, Princess Charlotte (pictured at the king’s coronation).
Many rushed to the comments to point out the resemblance between Diana and Prince William’s daughter, Charlotte.
The post read: “My mother, Diana and I, in 1967. I would have been 3 and Diana 5 or 6. I love how happy each of us look.”
One person commented: “Princess Charlotte looks exactly like Diana, it’s crazy.” Another wrote: “Charlotte looks like Diana omg.” A third added: “Charlotte looks like Grandma Diana.”
In 2022, royal fans went wild to see how much Charlotte looked like Diana in a video with Prince William before the Euro 2022 final in which he and Charlotte shared their support for the Lionesses.
It has been 27 years since Princess Diana died at the age of 36, when the car she was traveling in crashed in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997.
The social media post follows a rare glimpse of Princess Diana’s final resting place at Althorp Estate by Charles’ wife Karen.
The grave of the late Princess of Wales is situated on a private island in the middle of Oval Lake on the Northampton estate where she grew up.
Royal fans have gone crazy over how much Princess Charlotte looks like her late grandmother, Princess Diana, at the coronation (left, Diana in 1970, and right, Charlotte).
Charles grew up with his older sister Diana, who said she had always looked out for him when they were young.
Charles said he had an “unhappy childhood” and Diana said she saw “mum cry a lot.”
Although there is a memorial for the public to pay their respects, Diana’s grave is completely remote and can only be visited by family.
Last month, Countess Spencer, who married Diana’s brother Charles in 2011, shared a photo of Oval Lake with her 74,000 Instagram followers.
Posting on her Instagram Stories, the mother-of-one wrote: ‘The oval in the fog at dusk…’
The countess appears to have been enjoying a walk around the sprawling 13,000-acre estate when she stopped to take the photo.
Former Canadian model Karen lives in the stunning Althorp estate with her husband Charles, 59, and daughter Lady Charlotte, 11.
Charles Spencer married his third wife, Karen Gordon, in 2011 (pictured together in 2017)
Although the island where his sister-in-law is buried is not visible, the trees surrounding the lake are reflected in the calm, crystal-clear waters.
Although the island where his sister-in-law is buried is not visible, the trees surrounding the lake are reflected in the calm, crystal-clear water.
In August 2023, it was reported that 36 oak trees had been planted around the path leading to the lake along with hundreds of white and pink water lilies.
The number of trees is said to represent each year in Diana’s life before she tragically died in a car accident in Paris in August 1997.
The island is situated in the center of the Spencer family’s 500-year-old ancestral estate, which spans 13,000 acres surrounding their 500-acre walled park.
In his 1998 book Althorp, Princess Diana’s brother Charles explained why the decision had been made to bury the royals on the island at the Oval, when so many members of the family had been buried in St. Mary the Virgin at Great Brington.
He reflected: “We all agreed that, with its beauty and tranquility, this was the place where Diana should be.”
Princess Diana in June 1997, just two months before she tragically died in a car accident in Paris.
The ‘temple’ at the Althorp estate in Northampton where the public can pay their respects to Diana
In an interview with People magazine, Earl Spencer said he wanted his nephews, Prince William and Prince Harry, to have a private place to visit their late mother.
He added: “Fortunately, it’s very quiet here and they can come and go as they please, whenever they want.” And it is very nice for me to know that.”
Unlike a church, Earl Spencer said the water of Loch Oval would “act as a buffer against the interventions of the mad and macabre, and the thick mud would present a new line of defence.”
The Althorp estate is also home to a public memorial to Princess Diana, where guests can pay their respects.
The Greek-inspired monument, which has been nicknamed “the Temple”, was purchased by the 5th Earl Spencer in the 1880s and features Diana’s name, silhouette and a quote from the princess.
On a tablet it reads: “Nothing makes me happier than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society.” It is a goal and an essential part of my life, a kind of destiny, whoever is in trouble can call me. I’ll run wherever they are.’
Another tablet quotes Earl Spencer’s 1997 eulogy: “We give thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to call my sister, the one and only, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana, whose beauty, both internal and external, it will never disappear. become extinct from our minds.’
In 2017, Earl Spencer revealed that several members of the public attempted to access Diana’s grave.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, he explained: “We have had four attempted assaults on his body in the last 20 years and I am very pleased to have seen them all.”
“There are some weird people out there and keeping her here is the safest place.”