Earl Charles Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, is launching a new commercial venture producing homemade preserves from his Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire, following criticism over his memoir about his late sister.
The 62-year-old Earl plans to produce honey, tea, marmalade, cheeses, wines, ciders, and other goods from the estate, according to a source cited by The Sun.
New business venture
Intellectual Property Office records show the Earl has also registered his name for public speaking engagements, personal appearances, and voice-over work.
A UK trademark is a legally protected identifier—whether a word, logo, shape, or sound—used to differentiate one business's goods or services from competitors.
A source told The Sun: "First Spencer imitated Prince Harry with attacks on the royal family, and now he is doing a Meghan - and appears to be planning to make jam."
Criticism over memoir
The move comes as Earl Spencer faces ongoing criticism over his book Swan Song, with accusations he is profiting from his sister's death decades later.
Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell accused the Earl of abandoning his sister during her time of need. He told The Sun: "I'd think those last five years . . . are pretty vague in the book because he knows nothing about them. She said, 'My family only want me when they want the best seats in the best restaurants or want to sit in the Royal Box at Wimbledon'."
Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Burrell, 68, continued: "They barely spoke. He was not part of her world."
Family rift
Diana and her younger brother experienced a rift when he refused to allow her to reside in the Garden House at Althorp, the family's 13,000-acre estate, after her public separation from then-Prince Charles in 1992.
Earl Spencer, who inherited the estate that year aged 27, pointed to the Garden House's closeness to a road as a security risk. He maintained he had made available every appropriate property on the Northamptonshire estate.
Amongst his criticisms of the now King Charles, Spencer claimed that he told him following his father's funeral that he was "so lucky" to inherit at such a young age. He has also accused Charles of being "giddily elated" after Diana's death in 1997 and alleges he said "we will forget her soon enough."
Buckingham Palace suggested that the "pain of fraternal grief" may have clouded the Earl's recollections. Burrell voiced his opinion that the Earl made the wrong decision by burying Diana on an island within his estate, maintaining that she should have been laid to rest somewhere the public could properly pay their respects.
