Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer believes some of the harsh media coverage surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is similar to what his late sister experienced.

Speaking with the BBC while promoting his new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer reflected on the intense press attention Diana faced during her life and said he now sees “echoes” of it in the way Harry and Meghan are covered.

“If you look at an article in a tabloid about Diana or the couple that you’re mentioning, Harry and Meghan, they can be really, really unpleasant,” Spencer said.

“I think it would be really beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example.”

Spencer said he was not speaking on behalf of Harry and Meghan, but added that constant negative coverage can have a serious effect on anyone living through it.

For Diana, the criticism became deeply painful. Spencer recalled that his sister cried “tears of despair” over the way she was portrayed in the media and said she was particularly sensitive to criticism.

“I’m sure most of your viewers think she had this splendid life and it was all amazing,” Spencer said. “But she was really brought low by all of that criticism.”

He added that seeing similar treatment today is “a pity.”

Charles Spencer Says He Supports Both of Diana’s Sons

Spencer also addressed the perception that he has taken Harry’s side in the ongoing tensions surrounding the royal family.

“There is a perception in the media that I’m on Harry’s side,” he said. “Well, I’m on my deceased sister’s sons’ side, both of them.”

He stressed that he would be there for either Harry or Prince William if they needed him.

“I never get involved in one camp or the other except as a benign figure, I hope,” Spencer said.

In another interview with Good Morning America, Spencer repeated his concern about the way Harry and Meghan are sometimes covered.

“My big wish is that when people cover Harry and Meghan so unpleasantly, that they remember these are real people,” he said, pointing to the pain Diana experienced when the media focused heavily on her.

Spencer also addressed Harry and Meghan’s return to the U.K. in late August. He said he was surprised when he first heard about the move but understood it on reflection.

“I just hope, my wish is that they get a gentler time ahead in wherever they choose to live,” he said.

Spencer Opens Up About Harry, William and His New Memoir

Spencer also spoke about the difficult relationship between Harry and William and whether the brothers could repair their rift before the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death next year.

“Family rifts are, first of all, very sad,” he said. “And everyone who cares about people in a family rift hopes it’ll be healed.”

However, Spencer said the situation was too personal for him to comment further.

As for Swan Song, Spencer said Harry and William were aware of the book but had not read it in advance. He previously told People that Harry was “completely fine” with the memoir after Spencer reassured him that there was nothing embarrassing about him in it.

Spencer explained that the book mainly focuses on Diana and ends around her death in 1997, with only a brief postscript about her burial place.

He said Harry and William appear in the book largely as “two little boys who had the most exceptional mother” and that he did not want to compromise their privacy.

For Spencer, writing the memoir was also a chance to correct stories surrounding his family.

“Part of my duty, I’m a historian, is to lay down facts, and that’s what I’m doing,” he said. “There’s no viciousness. I’m not resentful or bitter or any of those things.”