Princess Diana's brother was 'retired early' from royal role helping Queen Elizabeth - and you won't believe the reason
Earl Spencer claims that his time as her Page of Honour was cut short because of how he made the monarch 'look' at events
Even before Princess Diana married King Charles, the Spencer family had plenty of other royal connections but her brother ended up "being retired" from a prestigious role assisting Queen Elizabeth. The wording used by Earl Spencer in his controversial memoir, Swan Song, suggests that the decision was made for him and he claims it was for a surprising reason.
He once served as Page of Honour to the late Queen at ceremonial occasions and even attended the State Opening of Parliament twice. However, this role was short-lived.
"From the age of twelve to fourteen, I had been a Page of Honour to the Queen, twice helping to carry her train at the State Opening of Parliament, before being retired early, because my height had made the petite Queen look small," Charles Spencer alleges.
Although Queen Elizabeth never publicly confirmed her height, it's widely believed that she was roughly 5ft 4. The Earl doesn't specify how tall he was when he "retired" but he'd seemingly had a growth spurt and it's intriguing to think that the height difference apparently mattered this much.
Perhaps it was felt that having shorter Pages would make the Queen look more imposing and regal at big events, as Pages of Honour are called upon to carry the trains and robes of the monarch at ceremonial occasions. We saw Prince George taking on this role for King Charles at his coronation alongside three other boys, aged between 12 and 13.
Members of the Royal Family don't typically remain Pages of Honour for the full term so George's experience was likely a one-off. Some of the King's other Pages have gone on to attend the State Opening of Parliament so it is possible we'll see them again.
They all usually have some sort of aristocratic connections and Queen Elizabeth was Charles Spencer's godmother, so this was likely a big factor. As the Earl notes in his memoir, Princess Diana was actually the only one of his siblings who didn't have a royal godparent.
"Inexplicably there had been no such royal link for Diana," he says, acknowledging, "But, well, she certainly made up for that."
Charles's link to the Queen supposedly didn't help him retain his Page role when he got too tall, but it didn't seem to bother him too much as he explains, "My ADHD made lengthy official functions challenging ordeals for me".
The late monarch was very used to attending long events like the State Opening of Parliament - after all, her own coronation was almost three hours long. She frequently wore the Imperial State Crown to the Openings, like she did on her coronation day, and faced a unique kind of challenge in getting used to the hefty weight of it.
Her approach was to practice as much as she could before the coronation and, as per the BBC, King Charles vividly remembers this and spoke about it on the documentary, Coronation Girls.
"I remember it all so well then, because I remember my sister and I had bath time in the evening," he said. "My mama used to come up at bath time wearing the crown to practise. You have to get used to how heavy [it] is."
