Princess Diana’s younger brother has marked what would have been her 64th birthday with a heartfelt tribute to the ‘Queen of Hearts’.

The former wife of King Charles died on 31 August 1997 from injuries sustained during a car crash in Paris. Diana was 36. 

On Tuesday, Earl Charles Spencer honoured his sister’s memory by sharing a previously unseen photograph of the royal that was taken on the occasion of her sixth birthday on July 1, 1967. 

The black-and-white snap posted on Instagram showed Diana enjoying a camel ride at her birthday party organised at the family’s sprawling estate, Althorp House, in Northampton. 

Charles captioned the picture: ‘Another July 1st from long ago – 1967, in fact: for Diana’s sixth birthday party, my father (standing, left) – to huge excitement – secured the services of Bert the Camel from Peterborough Zoo.’ 

The photo showed the late Earl John Spencer beaming proudly at his youngest daughter Diana, as she flashed a grin at the cameras. 

Charles’s post was flooded with comments from royal fans and well-wishers as they declared the late Princess is ‘dearly missed’ to this day. 

‘Happy birthday our precious queen of hearts,’ one message read. ‘Your soft voice, your unconditional love for people, your grace and elegance is why we will never forget you.’ 

Princess Diana ‘s younger brother has marked what would have been her 64th birthday with a heartfelt tribute to the ‘Queen of Hearts’

On Tuesday, Earl Charles Spencer honoured his sister’s memory by sharing a previously unseen photograph of the royal that was taken on the occasion of her sixth birthday on July 1, 1967

The black-and-white snap posted on Instagram showed Diana enjoying a camel ride at her birthday party organised at the family’s sprawling estate, Althorp House, in Northampton

Another person wrote: ‘A cherished memory. Your tribute at Althorp helps her live on for all of us.’

‘She is absolutely dearly missed,’ a third comment read. ‘What an inspiration she was and it’s unbelievable how much more and more young people relate to her and love her. 

‘Her legend and influence keeps growing.’ 

Another noted she looked ‘so happy with her siblings and father’, while a fifth fan added: ‘Happiest birthday in heaven, our beloved Queen! I am still sad you’re no longer with us. Eternal rest our lovely Diana.’

Charles’ latest tribute post comes days after he shared another Spencer family photo that was taken in 1989 around the time of their father’s birthday, when the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry would have been 27. 

Along with John, the picture featured Charles and Diana’s stepmother Raine Spencer, as well as Diana’s sisters, Jane and Sarah.  

They were all  stood at the bottom of the stairs of Althorp House, their estate in Northampton that has been in the Spencer family for over 500 years. 

Captioning the social media post, Charles, 60, wrote: ‘Trying to remember what this rather formal family photograph was for – it shows my sisters and brothers in law, flanking my father and stepmother, at the base of the main staircase (in the central hallway, known as the Saloon) at Althrop House in the late ‘80s. Perhaps it was something to do with my father’s 65th birthday, in January 1989?

Earl Charles Spencer shared the sweet family picture, which featured his father, Earl John Spencer, his second wife, Raine Spencer who was stepmother to his children, as well as Princess Diana, her sisters Jane and Sarah, and Charles himself. Pictured: previously unseen photograph 

‘Definitely an ‘80s air to it all…. I’m always intrigued by interior shots from Althorp’s past. Those huge candelabra are no longer on the staircase, and the Saloon’s walls are now white.’ 

The tribute post was shared just a month after relatives of the late Princess mourned her passing during Mental Health Awareness week.

Charles, who is three years younger than Diana, appeared on ITV’s Loose Men in May – a variant of the channel’s daily show Loose Women – to discuss his sister’s death.

There, he described losing his sister as ‘such an amputation’ as he reflected on his ‘sibling grief’.

Charles said: ‘It’s such an amputation. You grow up with these people, they are your flesh and blood, they’re with you forever – and then they’re gone.’

Describing losing a sibling as ‘a really extraordinary thing’, Charles recalled how, even years after his sister’s untimely death at the age of 36, he would still think to pick up the phone and call her.

He said: ‘For years after Diana died, I would think, “I must ring her and tell her something,” because we shared the same sense of humour.’

‘You just realise, of course, that’s not going to happen,’ he added.

Diana with her sons, Prince William (left) and Prince Harry, at the VE Day commemorations in London in May 1995

While Charles also grew up with two other sisters – Lady Sarah McCorquodale, 70, and Lady Jane Fellowes, 68 – he was much closer in age with Diana, who would have been 63 in May.

He said: ‘I don’t share my childhood with anyone anymore. That’s a great loss that you can never really put right.’

Charles, who last year published a harrowing account of the abuse he was subjected to at Maidwell Hall prep school, also told fellow panelist Craig Doyle about the responsibility he felt to protect Diana.

Despite being only 16 when Diana burst into ‘the public light in 1981’, Charles was eager to ‘get stuck in’ and ‘deal with the photographers who were plaguing her.’

On another occasion, he really did get involved, contacting a journalist who had written ‘a really horrendous article’ about her himself.

He explained: ‘I remember just before she died, a female journalist wrote a really horrendous article – because by that stage I don’t think that journalist was thinking of Diana as a person.’

Charles regretted that Diana had become ‘something to make money out of’ and wrote an ‘outraged letter’ to the journalist, which developed into ‘a bit of a to and fro’.

He concluded: ‘I think, particularly as a brother of a sister, you always feel like you want to get stuck in really.’

Diana, Princess of Wales, with Prince William (centre), and Prince Harry, on Holiday In Necker Island In The Caribbean, on April 11, 1990

Earl Spencer’s parents had five children between 1955 and 1964. Lady Sarah McCorquodale was born in 1955 and Lady Jane Fellowes followed two years later.

The couple’s third child, John Spencer, died hours after being born in January, 1960.

The late Princess Diana was born in 1961 and the youngest, Earl Charles Spencer, was born in 1964.

The siblings’ father John worked as a royal equerry for both King George VI and the young Queen Elizabeth II, and the family initially rented a home at the royal estate in Sandringham.

When Frances and John divorced, the two youngest Spencer siblings lived with their father, who Charles described as ‘quiet and a constant source of love’ in a 2020 interview with The Sunday Times.