Earl Spencer's forthcoming memoir contains new claims about King Charles' reaction to Diana's death and their troubled marriage.
Spencer alleges that Charles sounded “giddily elated” during a phone call after Diana's death, while Buckingham Palace has disputed his broader account.
The memoir also contains claims about Charles' relationship with Camilla, Diana's engagement and the decision for William and Harry to walk behind their mother's coffin.
King Charles sounded “giddily elated” during a phone call with Diana’s brother after the princess’s death in 1997, Earl Spencer has claimed in his forthcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. Spencer alleges that the then-Prince of Wales sounded “like a lottery winner” when discussing Diana’s death, suggesting that Charles may have viewed it as an opportunity to marry Camilla. Buckingham Palace has pushed back against Spencer’s broader claims, saying grief can “cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory”.
But a former royal aide has claimed that King Charles told Buckingham Palace staff never to criticise Princess Diana after her death.
New Claims About Diana And Charles
Spencer said Charles, who was Prince of Wales at the time, reacted with a “stream of anger” during a phone conversation after Spencer argued that his sister would not have wanted William and Harry to walk in her funeral procession.
Extracts from the book describe Spencer’s view of his sister’s troubled marriage to Charles. They include claims that Diana discovered a bracelet her then-fiancé had purchased for Camilla and subsequently attempted to end their engagement. The book also claims that Charles called Diana “chubby” shortly after they became engaged, a remark she reportedly found “devastating” given her eating disorder. Several of these accounts, however, have appeared previously in reports by biographers and other media outlets.
Another extract published by the Daily Mail on Thursday, as reported by CNN, made a further claim about Charles’ reaction on the night Diana died. According to the extract, Charles “sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner” while speaking to Spencer.
“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 color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss,” a palace spokesperson said in a statement quoted by CNN.
What Does Spencer's Memoir Claim?
In an extract published on Wednesday by the Daily Mail, Spencer has claimed in his forthcoming memoir that King Charles told him days after her death that “we’ll forget her soon enough”.
CNN said it had not reviewed Swan Song before its publication. However, a spokesperson for Penguin Random House confirmed that the excerpts quoted by CNN accurately reflect passages from the book. The Daily Mail secured exclusive rights to publish extracts from the memoir, beginning on Thursday, as part of a series that the newspaper has promoted as “explosive”.
Diana, the Princess of Wales, died in August 1997 after sustaining internal injuries in a high-speed car crash in Paris. Days later, her sons, William and Harry, who were 15 and 12 respectively at the time, walked behind her coffin during the funeral procession.
