Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer breaks silence after skipping daughter Amelia Spencer's wedding

Princess Diana's brother Earl Charles Spencer has broken his silence after skipping his daughter's wedding in South Africa, which was announced overnight.

Lady Amelia Spencer, the late Princess of Wales' 30-year-old niece, married her partner of 14 years Greg Mallet, 30, at the exclusive mountain-top vineyard La Cotte Farm in Franschhoek, which is near Cape Town.

The father of the bride, however, was notably absent – and it's not the first of his daughters' weddings he's missed.

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When his eldest child Lady Kitty Spencer, 32, married billionaire Michael Lewis, 63, in a star-studded 2021 weekend-long event, Charles was also notably absent, with her brother Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp and her half-brother Samuel Aitken walking her down the aisle instead.

In his first post to Twitter since Amelia's nuptials, Charles shared a photo of Althorp Estate in West Northamptonshire, England, alongside the caption: "Early morning March light, at Althorp's Round Oval lake."

He then shared a video of birds swimming in the estate's lake, writing: "Duck, geese, swans – and, in the distance, coots and moorhens. Early morning life on the lake, at ⁦[Althorp]."

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Charles has yet to give a reason for his absence, though it was reported in June 2021 – one month before Kitty's wedding – that he had suffered a shoulder injury that prevented him from participating in a planned dive of The White Ship, the subject of his bestselling book.

"It sounds like a pretty feeble excuse but is really quite painful and unpleasant. I asked my doctor, 'Can I dive?' and he said, 'Only if you want to drown'. I decided that would be taking the authenticity of the adventure too far," Charles told MSN at the time.

Charles has seven children including Kitty, 32, twins Amelia and Lady Eliza Spencer, 30, and Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp and heir to his Earldom, 29, Honorable Edmund Spencer, 19, Lady Lara Spencer, 17, and Lady Charlotte Diana Spencer, 10.

Charles' eldest children are from his marriage to Victoria Aitken, who is also the mother of Kitty, Amelia, Eliza and Louis' half-brother Samuel Aitken.

His second marriage to Caroline Freud resulted in two children, Edmund and Lara, and he shares daughter Charlotte with his third wife Karen Gordon.

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Amelia and her new husband Greg met in South Africa, which is where Amelia grew up after her father moved his family there following his sister's death in 1997.

The newlyweds got engaged in South Africa, but announced they were relocating to the United Kingdom two years ago.

Fitness and nutrition coach Greg, who is the nephew of former South African national rugby coach Nick Mallett, proposed to his bride at Clouds Wine & Guest Estate, a vineyard east of Cape Town, in July 2020.

Both Kitty and Eliza were confirmed to have attended Amelia's wedding, though it's unclear if Louis was among family members there. Samuel, meanwhile, was also said to have attended.

It's believed Amelia's cousins Prince William and Prince Harry missed the wedding.