Four copies of Earl Spencer’s forthcoming memoir about his sister, Princess Diana, have been stolen from a lorry in the Netherlands days before its publication and exclusive serialisation.
The books were taken from a vehicle carrying thousands of copies of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which was parked overnight in a rural lay-by. Dutch police are investigating the break-in.
Publishing sources believe the theft may have been an attempt to obtain the highly anticipated memoir before it reaches bookshops, although theories about those responsible range from opportunist thieves to a supporter of the Royal Family with detailed knowledge of the book.
The four missing copies had been wrapped in black plastic to conceal their contents. The lorry had left a printing plant in Central Europe on Monday and was travelling to a warehouse in the Netherlands, ahead of distribution to Dutch bookshops.
The driver reportedly discovered the break-in at about 8am after stopping to sleep. Despite the vehicle containing thousands of books, only the handful of wrapped copies was taken.
One publishing source said: “It’s extremely suspicious. Nothing like this has ever happened before. This is probably the biggest book of the year and the security surrounding it has been incredibly tight.”
They added: “Every possible precaution has been taken to prevent it from being leaked ahead of its serialisation. Therefore this unprecedented incident is being taken extremely seriously.”
Penguin bosses in London were told about the incident at 3.30pm yesterday. The memoir is due to be published worldwide next Tuesday by Penguin Michael Joseph, part of Penguin Random House, with an exclusive serialisation running before it becomes available in bookshops.
Memoir addresses Diana’s marriage and death
The book contains Earl Spencer’s account of Diana’s deeply unhappy marriage to the then Prince of Wales, as well as his recollections of the crisis that followed her death in a car crash almost 30 years ago.
A publishing insider said the Earl had remained silent for nearly three decades and claimed that his account of the King’s reaction to Diana’s death was “utterly devastating”.
The memoir is described as a deeply personal account of the siblings’ relationship and of Diana’s failed marriage. It also covers the week after her death in August 1997, when the Royal Family faced an unprecedented wave of public grief and anger.
Buckingham Palace is understood to be braced for revelations that could reopen painful memories of the former Prince and Princess of Wales’s bitter separation and divorce.
Earl Spencer, 62, has said the book will correct what he regards as “untruths” told about his sister. It is due to be published around the world and translated into 12 languages.
The theft is not the first occasion on which a major book has been targeted before publication. In 2003, a lorry carrying more than 7,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was stolen from a warehouse on Merseyside.
