Diana’s brother Charles Spencer, 62, claims in his memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, that the monarch’s private secretary Robert Fellowes, who died aged 82 in 2024, relayed the offer as they traveled toward Althorp, the Spencer family’s Northamptonshire estate where Diana would be buried.
A royal source claimed: “There was undoubtedly an enormous amount of soul-searching taking place after Diana died. The scale of the public grief took everyone by surprise, and there was an awareness that decisions made after the divorce, including removing the HRH, had caused Diana considerable pain.
“Whatever you call it, the Queen’s reported secret offer to restore it after Diana’s death suggests she wanted to put something right, and it was most probably driven by guilt or regret, or both.”
They continued, “It was an extraordinary gesture because Diana was already dead and restoring the title could no longer change what she had experienced while alive.
“The Queen was dealing with an unprecedented situation. She was trying to balance the institution, Diana’s family, William and Harry, and an extraordinary national outpouring of grief. There would inevitably have been questions about whether the monarchy had understood Diana’s importance quickly enough.”