Charles Spencer has claimed that King Charles told him Princess Diana would be “forgotten” shortly after her death, prompting Buckingham Palace to suggest that grief may have clouded his recollection.
The allegation appears in Spencer’s forthcoming book, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister”, which revisits the breakdown of Diana’s marriage, her death in a Paris car crash and the events that followed.
Recalling a conversation with Diana’s former husband, Spencer said: “He said about Diana, ‘We’ll forget her soon enough.’ And he said it, I can’t really recreate it, but it was said with a bit of a hiss, to be honest. And I said, ‘I can’t believe you said that.’”
Spencer, the ninth Earl Spencer, said he decided to write the book after receiving repeated requests to contribute to other books and documentaries ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death.
“It suddenly occurred to me, well, if you’re all so interested in hearing from me, I might just give you the definitive story,” he said, adding that it was “the Spencer version of the story”.
Palace responds to Charles Spencer’s claims
The book portrays King Charles in an unfavourable light, including Spencer’s account of a telephone call he says he received from him soon after Diana’s death.
Spencer recalled that Charles “sounded excited in a sort of upbeat way”. He said he had wondered whether the King felt liberated to pursue his relationship with Camilla, now Queen Camilla, but stressed that he could not know what Charles had been thinking.
Buckingham Palace does not generally comment on books, but issued a response to the recollections. A statement said: “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.”
Spencer also challenges the account of how Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, came to walk behind their mother’s coffin during her funeral procession in September 1997.
He said he believed the decision was intended in part to shield Prince Charles from possible hostility among members of the public. “I was told they wanted to do it. And I was, I believe I was lied to,” he said.
Spencer described the prospect of the boys taking part in the procession as “barbaric”, saying he had decided that it would not happen.
He declined to discuss what he had said to William and Harry about the episode, but suggested that the way Harry’s grief was handled after Diana’s death might still be connected to his present difficulties with the Royal Family and the press.
“He was so young,” Spencer said. “And I just wonder if a gentler, more understanding treatment of his grief then might have helped him, and that everyone might have found a happier course ahead.”
Spencer has portrayed Diana as a powerful and unconventional figure who struggled against what she called the “men in gray suits” within the establishment.
He said: “A lot of people in the British establishment didn’t know what to do with this totally rogue but brilliant force,” and claimed there had been attempts to suppress her during her years in the public eye.
Asked what sort of Queen Diana might have become had she lived, Spencer said: “I think Diana would have been a really amazing queen. To have a sort of superstar in that role would have been very good for Britain.”
