Avery Life Issue 3

Page 12

Diving into HISTORY In this exclusive interview Lord Charles Spencer, younger brother of the late Princess Diana, talks to Nicola McGeorge about his love of bringing history to life, diving for buried treasure, and ‘that’ speech.

Historian and author Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, oversees Althorp estate, the family’s ancestral seat in Northamptonshire with his wife Karen Gordon. The maternal uncle of Princes William and Harry, Charles’ heartfelt eulogy paying tribute to his sister Diana, the Princess of Wales often appears in lists of great speeches of the 20th century. He has written several books, including the Sunday Times best-seller, Blenheim: Battle for Europe. His latest work, The White Ship is a riveting real-life Game of Thrones, a truly thrilling tale.

When did you decide you wanted to become a writer? After leaving university, I spent 10 years as a reporter for the American network NBC. There I learnt to ‘write a picture.’ That is, I wrote down scripts that were closely linked to the footage shot for my reports. While I enjoyed all aspects of foreign reporting (I was lucky enough to visit over 30 countries during this period), writing was the part of my profession that most appealed to me. It was only a short step from that to writing books.

What draws you to the history genre? I always loved history. I recently found a school report from when I was five years old in which my lovely headmistress, Miss Lowe, mentions this passion of mine. Dated 1969 she wrote, ‘Charles seems to adore history.’ To me, history is not simply about dry and dusty facts, it’s more about people 12


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