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Earl Spencer’s forthcoming memoir about his late sister, Princess Diana, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has yet to officially reach bookstores, but extracts released ahead of publication have already generated intense attention.
Among the most controversial allegations to emerge, Spencer has claimed that Diana’s former husband, King Charles, sounded “giddily elated” after learning of her death. He has also alleged that, in the period before Diana’s funeral, Charles told him: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!”
The claims made by the 62-year-old Earl have prompted widespread reaction, while also raising questions about what the book could mean for his relationships with Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Discussing whether the memoir might cause a lasting rupture between Spencer and his nephews on HELLO!’s Right Royal Podcast, the publication’s Royal Editor Emily Nash suggested that his relationship with each brother is different.
She said: “Well, to the best of my knowledge, I don’t think he’s particularly close to William. We know Harry stayed with him back in July when he was in the UK.”
Nash suggested that Harry’s connection with Earl Spencer appears to be warmer than William’s, but argued that the memoir could leave the Duke of Sussex caught between two important family relationships.
She explained: “So they do have a somewhat closer relationship, but it puts Harry in a difficult situation because, however much he may like to wear his heart on his sleeve when he talks about his mother, he’s been very passionate about being attached to her legacy and wanting to bring that into pretty much everything he does; on the other hand, we know he’s trying to reconcile with his father. So where does this leave him? He can’t very well support what his uncle is saying.”
Her comments highlight the potential dilemma for Harry: maintaining his close association with Diana’s memory while also navigating his relationship with King Charles amid efforts to ease tensions between them.
READ MORE: Royal Author Claims Harry and Earl Spencer Have Joined Forces as Diana Memoir Targets King Charles
Turning to Prince William, Nash suggested that the controversy may place the Prince of Wales in an especially complicated position. Unlike other members of the family, William must consider not only his personal feelings as Diana’s son but also his future responsibilities within the monarchy.
Emily said: “But William is the person, I think, maybe in the most difficult situation, because whatever his feelings behind the scenes, he has to keep the show on the road. This is his future and his family’s future. And if you’re lobbing a grenade at the institution… Really? Because it’s not just the King who’s being accused of things here, it’s the whole palace machinery. And of course we know from everything that happened around the Panorama scandal, William is sick of people capitalising on his mother’s memory to make money. So I do wonder what he feels about this.”
Her comments point to the potentially conflicting pressures William faces, with the allegations touching both on deeply personal memories of his mother and on the institution he is expected to lead in the future.
Earl Spencer’s clаims so fаr
As previously mentioned, the claims made by the Earl have been scathing towards the King.
Spencer claimed that some inside Buckingham Palace were “relieved – indeed pleased” at Diana’s death and alleged that the King sounded “giddily elated – like a lottery winner” on the morning she died.
Spencer has also offered a detailed account of the morning he learned that Diana had died on 31 August 1997. He recalls receiving numerous telephone calls while processing the news, including one from the then-Prince Charles as Spencer was crossing the upstairs landing of his home.
Describing how that particular conversation differed from the others he received, Spencer alleged: “Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time.”
Further extracts from the memoir have focused on disagreements over Diana’s funeral arrangements. Spencer claims that some of his sister’s preferences were not respected, including her reported wish for Mozart’s Requiem to be performed during the service.
Another source of tension, according to the Earl, concerned whether the young William and Harry should walk in their mother’s funeral procession. The princes were only 15 and 12, and Spencer says he argued that Diana would not have wanted her sons placed in that position.
He alleges that his objections triggered a “stream of anger” from Charles during a heated telephone exchange.
Spencer wrote: “He [Charles] unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. ‘Rest assured,’ he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough’.”
Buckingham Palace’s unprеcedented responsе
In a highly unusual intervention, Buckingham Palace broke with its customary approach of remaining silent on claims contained in royal books and released a statement on the King’s behalf.
The response addressed Spencer’s allegations by pointing to the lasting emotional impact that losing a sibling can have on a person’s recollection and interpretation of events.
The Palace statement read: “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.”
