Nearly thirty years after Princess Diana’s death, the arguments over her life have never entirely gone away.

Her brother, Charles Spencer, is now adding his own memories to the enormous historical record surrounding her.

His new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, looks back at their childhood together, Diana’s transformation into one of the most famous women in the world, her marriage to the future King Charles III and the extraordinary days surrounding her death in August 1997.

Spencer says he wrote the book partly because he wanted to correct what he considers long-standing untruths about his sister. He has described it not as an exposé, but as a tribute to Diana.

But there is another audience for Swan Song that has received far less attention.

Princess Diana’s grandchildren.

Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet never knew their grandmother.

Everything they will ever know about Diana must come from the memories and records she left behind.

Princess Diana’s Five Grandchildren Never Knew Her

Diana died at just 36, more than 15 years before the birth of her first grandchild, Prince George.

That creates an unusual divide in the story of the modern Royal Family.

Prince William and Prince Harry remember Diana as their mother. Charles Spencer remembers her as his sister. King Charles remembers the woman who was his wife for 15 years.

George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet have no memories of Diana at all.

They inherit other people’s memories instead.

And those memories do not always agree.

That is what makes Swan Song potentially more meaningful than simply another royal biography on a bookstore shelf.

It becomes another part of the record from which Diana’s grandchildren may someday form their own understanding of who their grandmother was.

This Is Their Family History

For Prince George in particular, the history Spencer is revisiting is more than the story of a grandmother he never met.

George is second in line to the throne. His grandfather is King Charles III. His father is Prince William. His uncle is Prince Harry.

The events surrounding Diana’s life and death are woven into the history of the institution George may someday lead.

And Swan Song revisits some of its most painful moments.

Spencer writes about his objections to 15-year-old William and 12-year-old Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin during her funeral procession in September 1997. He also makes a series of claims about conversations and events surrounding Diana’s death, including allegations involving the future King Charles.

Buckingham Palace has publicly disputed the reliability of some of Spencer’s recollections, suggesting that grief can affect memory and judgment.

Spencer, in turn, has strongly defended his account.

For Diana’s grandchildren, perhaps that disagreement is part of the story, too.

They will not inherit one perfectly agreed-upon account of their grandmother’s life.

They will inherit the memories of people who knew and loved Diana, but who sometimes remember the same events very differently.

Charlotte and Lilibet Carry Her Name

There is something particularly poignant about Diana’s two granddaughters.

Both carry her name.

Prince William and Catherine named their daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

Prince Harry and Meghan named theirs Lilibet Diana.

Diana is therefore part of both girls’ identities, even though neither had the opportunity to meet her.

Yet Charlotte and Lilibet are growing up under very different circumstances.

Charlotte is being raised within the immediate family of the future king, while Lilibet spent her early childhood in California before moving to Britain with Harry, Meghan and Archie.

One day, however, both girls may encounter the same book.

A book written by their great-uncle about the grandmother whose name they share.

George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet Will Have Questions

Family history changes as children grow older.

Eventually, photographs are not enough.

Children begin asking questions.

What was Grandma like when she was little?

What made her laugh?

Was she happy?

What happened between her and Grandpa?

What were Dad and Uncle Harry like when they were children?

Why do people still talk about her?

Why do different people tell different versions of the same story?

No single book can answer those questions for Diana’s grandchildren.

Neither can Charles Spencer, King Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry or any biographer.

Each can offer only a piece.

And Swan Song adds a particularly personal one.

Before She Was Princess Diana, She Was His Sister

Millions of people remember Diana as the Princess of Wales.

Her grandchildren may someday be interested in something much simpler.

Who was Diana before all of that?

Spencer can tell them something about a Diana the rest of the world never knew.

He and Diana were the youngest Spencer children. In describing the book, its publisher says the siblings were inseparable during childhood, privately calling one another “Duch” and “Carlos.”

They explored the family estate together. They endured the painful breakup of their parents’ marriage. They confided in one another before Diana became a princess, a global celebrity and eventually one of the most photographed women in the world.

Spencer has said he hopes even people who were too young to remember Diana will come away from Swan Song feeling that they understand who she really was.

There may be no younger readers for whom that could someday matter more than Diana’s own grandchildren.

William and Harry Already Know About the Book

Spencer did not publish Swan Song without considering his nephews.

In an interview with People published ahead of the book’s release, Spencer said he told William and Harry about the book at the same time.

He also said Harry was “completely fine” with it and that he had been concerned about how both brothers might feel about his portrayal of their father.

That distinction matters.

For William and Harry, this is a book about events they actually lived through.

For their children, it will be history.

And someday those children may be able to place their great-uncle’s memories alongside the stories their own fathers choose to tell them.

When Royal News Becomes Family History

Right now, Swan Song is news.

Its revelations are producing headlines. Buckingham Palace has responded. Spencer is giving interviews. Nearly three decades after Diana’s death, people are once again debating what happened behind palace walls.

But news eventually becomes history.

And history can feel very different when it belongs to your own family.

George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet will grow up with an extraordinary archive of material about the grandmother they never met.

There are thousands of photographs and hours of video.

There are newspaper archives, documentaries and biographies.

There are their fathers’ memories.

There are the memories of King Charles and other members of the Royal Family.

And now there is Uncle Charles’s story.

The Grandmother Behind the Icon

There will probably never be one definitive version of Princess Diana.

She meant too many different things to too many people.

To the world, she became an icon.

To William and Harry, she was Mum.

To Charles Spencer, she was the sister who shared his childhood.

And to George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet, she is the grandmother they know only through the memories left behind by others.

Swan Song cannot introduce them to Diana.

But it can preserve another voice from someone who knew her long before the titles, the wedding, the photographers and the tragedy.

For the rest of us, Swan Song is a new book about Princess Diana.

For her five grandchildren, it may someday be another chance to meet their grandmother.

Sources: Penguin Random House, People: Charles Spencer on William and Harry, and People: Charles Spencer on Diana and Swan Song.