King Charles III has responded to allegations made by Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, in a forthcoming memoir that depicts a tense confrontation between the two following Diana’s death in 1997. The book, titled *Swan Song: Diana, My Sister*, claims that the then Prince of Wales said to Spencer, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough,” just days after the Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris.
The memoir centers on a disagreement over funeral arrangements, specifically the decision for Princes William and Harry, aged 15 and 12 at the time, to walk in their mother’s funeral procession. Spencer reportedly opposed having the young princes participate in the public ritual, arguing that Diana would not have wanted her sons to undertake such a difficult public ordeal. According to excerpts published ahead of the book’s release, Spencer recalled telling a senior aide that “that’s not going to happen,” before receiving a phone call from Charles, who insisted upon the arrangement by citing his own experience walking in the funeral procession of his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten in 1979. Spencer counters that Charles was 30 years old at that time, in contrast to his sons’ much younger ages.
The memoir paints a picture of an angry Prince Charles who, during the phone exchange, became enraged by Spencer’s objections. Spencer describes Charles as unleashing what he interpreted as “pent-up contempt” for Diana and expressing frustration that the world was so deeply affected by her death. These alleged remarks reportedly left Spencer stunned, prompting him to end the call abruptly.
Buckingham Palace has issued a statement in response, emphasizing that it does not comment on books as a matter of principle but noting that “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.” The palace’s statement suggests a degree of skepticism regarding the accuracy of Spencer’s recollections, while not directly refuting the claims.
The forthcoming memoir is expected to address other aspects of Diana’s life, including her childhood, her troubled marriage to Charles, and the events following her death. Spencer, 62, has framed his book as an attempt to correct "untruths" he believes have been told about his sister over the years.
The publication is set for release ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death next year. Meanwhile, security concerns have arisen after four copies of the book were reportedly stolen from a truck parked in the Netherlands, with Dutch police currently investigating the incident.
The revelations come amid a period of renewed scrutiny of the royal family, following recent controversies and the return of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children to the United Kingdom. The dispute revived public conversations about Diana’s legacy and the royal family’s handling of her death, which originally sparked widespread criticism of their perceived detached response to the public’s grief in 1997. Both Princes William and Harry have previously spoken about the difficulty of their mother’s funeral, with Harry remarking that no child should be expected to participate in such a procession.
The tensions exposed in the memoir underscore ongoing divisions within the royal family’s narratives surrounding Diana’s life and death, with differing accounts reflecting the complex and often fraught nature of royal relationships.