Earl Spencer described the press as a ‘cancerous influence’ (Picture: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire) Earl Spencer has said the treatment of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by the media has ‘echoes’ of what happened to his sister, Diana. Diana’s younger brother has described press coverage of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as a ‘cancerous influence in their life’. He said people should learn from the way his sister was affected by intense media scrutiny. The comments came after Harry and Meghan recently returned to the UK from California, six years after stepping back from royal duties. The couple have repeatedly criticised the British media and the treatment they received during their time as working royals. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg at his Althorp estate, Earl Spencer was asked whether he thought Diana would have identified with the scrutiny Harry and Meghan face. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, recently returned to the UK (Picture: Paul Davey/SWNS) ‘If you look at an article in a tabloid about Diana or the couple that you were mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you know, they can be really, really unpleasant,’ he told the BBC. ‘And I think it would be really beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example.’ He added: ‘I’m not here to speak for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone who’s being destroyed in this way daily, it must be such a cancerous influence in their life.’ Earl Spencer said he had seen Diana’s ‘tears of despair’ over media coverage and described her as ‘very, very sensitive to criticism’. Diana, who married the then-Prince Charles in 1981, was subjected to intense press attention throughout her public life. Earl Spencer said she was ‘really brought low by all that criticism’, adding that it was a ‘pity’ to see ‘echoes of that now’ in the treatment of his nephew Harry and Meghan. He also rejected the idea that he had simply taken Harry’s side in his ongoing battles with the press. ‘I’m on my deceased sister’s sons’ side, both of them and if either of them wanted anything, then I’d be equally there for them,’ he said. Diana died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, after being pursued by photographers. At her funeral, Earl Spencer famously criticised the media for what he described as a ‘permanent quest… to bring her down’. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.