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Buckingham Palace has long denied that any such offer was made

The late Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore Princess Diana's HRH title on the day of her funeral, Earl Spencer has claimed in his new memoir.

Diana lost her royal title amid her bitter divorce with the then-Prince Charles.

Her brother says she was left "dreadfully hurt" by the removal - which he dubbed "petty and vindictive".

As the BBC first reported in 1997, a discussion was had on the Royal Train which took the Spencers, Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry to her private burial service at her family estate in Northamptonshire.

While the idea was discussed with the Spencers, no offer to restore the title was made, Buckingham Palace said.

The Palace said at the time that the Spencers thought any such change would have been against the Princess's wishes.

Sir Robert Fellowes, the Queen's Private Secretary, was thought to have been crucial to the discussion.

But Earl Spencer now explicitly claims he made the offer on the train on the way back from the funeral.

"When we had gone some miles, Robert beckoned me to follow him into a quiet corner of the carriage," he wrote in his book, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" which is being serialised by the Mail.

"I have just received a call from Her Majesty... and she would like to offer Diana her HRH title back."

"I felt that I knew in my bones how she would view this posthumous award," he replied. "That's very kind of the Queen, of course. But what's the point, Robert? Now? I mean - Diana's dead."

The earl later questioned whether rejecting the offer was the right thing to do.

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"Maybe Diana would have seen some point in having HRH carved on her tombstone," he wondered.

But the 62-year-old said he "had no doubt that the consolation prize was hollow, however well-meaning the Queen's gesture".

"The title should never have been removed during her life, in which case it would not have been necessary to offer it to her in death," he bristled.

At the time, Buckingham Palace said the Spencers' firm view was that Diana would not have wanted any change to the style and title she held when she died.

And at her burial service, Earl Spencer said she "needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic".

Diana lost her HRH title after her divorce in August 1996 and was instead styled simply Diana, Princess of Wales.

The latest claims come after the earl accused the King of being "giddily elated" upon hearing of the death of Princess Diana.

In his memoir, he says Charles, just days after Diana's death, told him: "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough."

Buckingham Palace issued a statement to GB News in response to the claims in the book.

It confirmed that "fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory".

A spokesman told The People's Channel: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."