Princess Diana's brother claims Prince Charles seemed "upbeat" after she died

Read the original at CBS News ↗
CBS News · collected 2026-09-18

Quick Summary

In an interview promoting his new book, Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, asserts that Prince Charles appeared to be in high spirits shortly after Diana's fatal accident in Paris in 1997. The claims are part of a broader discussion captured in an episode of "CBS Sunday Morning" featuring an interview with Mark Phillips.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Charles Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, claims in his upcoming memoir, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," that then-Prince Charles sounded “giddily elated” and like a lottery winner when he called to inform him about Princess Diana's fatal car crash in 1997. In the book excerpt published by The Daily Mail, Spencer describes how unlike other callers who were stunned and speechless, Prince Charles was oddly upbeat during their conversation.

Spencer further states that Charles informed him early the next morning that he had told their sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, about Diana’s death in their bedrooms at Balmoral. He speculates this could have been because Charles felt freed to pursue a relationship with now-Queen Camilla, whom he later married.

In response to these claims, Buckingham Palace issued a rare statement acknowledging that grief can cloud reason, judgment, and memory, but did not directly address Spencer's specific allegations. The book is set to be released next week, continuing the ongoing debate over Diana’s legacy and Charles’s actions during those tumultuous days in 1997.

Written for “Charles Elated After Diana's Death” on 2026-10-05, grounded in this article and the 19 other(s) covering the same event.

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
2
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
100%
2 of 2 hedged
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Correction & hedging signals
65.6
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
20
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Charles Elated After Diana's Death
Politics · 20 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 100% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 29% hedged 2 of 7 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe Earl Spencer claiming Prince Charles sounded elated and matter-of-fact after Princess Diana's death in 1997, based on his book excerpts.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 31% hedged 4 of 13 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles report on Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, claiming that Prince Charles sounded 'elated' or 'upbeat' after Diana's death in a car accident in 1997.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 25% hedged 5 of 20 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles report on Earl Spencer's claims about Prince Charles' phone call after Princess Diana's death in 1997, describing his tone as 'upbeat' or 'giddily elated'.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 18% hedged 2 of 11 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on the same incident described in Diana's brother's upcoming book about Prince Charles' emotional state immediately after Princess Diana's death.”
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 26% hedged 6 of 23 📰 publisher trust 61
“Both articles describe the same claim made by Princess Diana's brother in his upcoming book about Prince Charles' alleged emotional state after her death.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 24% hedged 5 of 21 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles describe Earl Spencer's claims about Prince Charles' emotional state immediately after Princess Diana's death, based on extracts from his new memoir.”
Times of India
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 26% hedged 5 of 19 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe the same specific incident where Princess Diana's brother claims Prince Charles appeared 'giddily elated' or 'upbeat' shortly after Diana's death in 1997.”
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 18% hedged 3 of 17 📰 publisher trust 78
“Both articles discuss Earl Spencer's claims about Prince Charles' state after Princess Diana's death, referencing the same controversial book and a similar timeframe.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 24% hedged 8 of 33 📰 publisher trust 61
“Both articles describe Earl Spencer's claims about Prince Charles' reaction immediately after Princess Diana's death in 1997.”
South China Morning Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 67% hedged 2 of 3 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles report on Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, claiming that Prince Charles was elated or upbeat immediately after Diana's death in 1997.”

Publisher

CBS News · 1978 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

No reporter is named on this article.

Topics

Paris

Subjects

Diana PERSON · 2× Charles PERSON · 1× Charles Spencer's PERSON · 1× Mark Phillips PERSON · 1× Paris GPE · 1× Prince Charles PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The brother of the late Princess Diana claims in his upcoming book that then Prince Charles seemed "upbeat" right after his ex-wife died in a Paris car crash in 1997.
framing: speculative · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18

Claims (2 extracted, 2 hedged)

Princess Diana's brother claims Prince Charles seemed "upbeat" after she died uncertain
she → claim → ?
The brother of the late Princess Diana claims in his upcoming book that then Prince Charles seemed "upbeat" right after his ex-wife died in a Paris car crash in 1997. uncertain
wife → claim → 1997
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