Story summary
Experts suggest that Earl Spencer felt a duty to write his memoir about Diana's life. In the book, he makes explosive claims against King Charles, alleging that shortly after Princess Diana’s death in 1997, then-Prince Charles said "we’ll forget her soon enough." This prompted Buckingham Palace to issue a statement saying His Majesty is mindful that fraternal grief can cloud judgment and reason.
Spencer accused the king of gaslighting him when the palace responded by questioning his recollections. He called the palace's defense a "rather poor imitation" of how Queen Elizabeth II handled similar allegations from Prince Harry in their Oprah interview.
The book also includes details about an alleged row over Diana’s funeral arrangements where King Charles reportedly went ballistic, criticizing Spencer's family for not fulfilling their duties adequately enough. Buckingham Palace did not comment on the specifics of these claims but suggested that grief could affect memory accuracy over time.
Earl Spencer told BBC he wanted to put down truths before it was too late due to his awareness of mortality. He added that there are other facts about King Charles he chose not to include in the book, deeming them irrelevant.
Written for “Diana Controversies Royal Family” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 92 other(s) covering the same event.
- Published
Princess Diana's brother has told the BBC exclusively that he is "telling the truth" about a phone call with King Charles in the days after his sister's death.
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he → publish → death
Earl Spencer claims in a new book the then-Prince of Wales said "we'll forget her soon enough" during an argument over whether Princes William and Harry should walk in Diana's funeral procession.
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William → claim → procession
In a strongly worded response, Buckingham Palace said the King was "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss".
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others → word → loss
But in his first interview since, Earl Spencer said: "I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said."
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he → say → you
Reacting to the rare statement from the Palace, Earl Spencer said: "Well, is he furious?
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he → react → Palace
Speaking to the BBC at his Althorp estate, he added: "I've only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life.
"
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I → speak → life
I was hyper alert to what he was saying and those are precisely the words that he said and I promise that to you now.
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I → say → you
Genuinely, that is what he said.
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he → say → what
I don't hear him saying he didn't say that.
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he → hear → that
Pressed on whether he had evidence to back up the claim, he said he told family and friends at the time what had been said "because it was so monstrous".
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it → press → time
In response to the Palace disputing his account, he said: "They've sort of smudged that one, haven't they?
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they → dispute → one
They've said that recollections may vary."
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recollections → say → ?
When asked which Charles the public was meant to believe, he said: "I'm telling the truth."
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I → ask → truth
Buckingham Palace declined to give a response to Earl Spencer's fresh comments.
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Palace → decline → comments
The remarks may bring a renewed focus to the war of words between the Palace and the King's former brother-in-law.
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remarks → bring → law
In excerpts of his book published by the Daily Mail, Earl Spencer claims the phone call took place after he insisted Diana would not have wanted the young princes to walk in the procession.
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princes → publish → procession
In his BBC interview, he says the King "went ballistic" and "ranted for a while", accusing his family of not having an adequate sense of duty.
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King → say → duty
"And then he stopped and I thought, oh now, now he's gonna pull himself together and say something more appropriate," Earl Spencer said.
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Spencer → stop → something
"And then, he said, 'we'll forget her soon enough'."
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we → say → her
He said he couldn't say exactly what went through his mind at that moment as he was "just so stunned", adding: "I just, after a stunned silence, I said, I cannot believe you just said that.
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you → say → that
And I hung up on him.
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I → hang → him
Earl Spencer's book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is due to be published next week and is expected to be highly critical of the Royal Family.
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book → publish → Family
In further extracts published on Thursday, he claimed how the King "sounded giddily elated" when he called him after Diana's death in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, alleging Charles sounded like a "lottery winner".
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Charles → publish → winner
Earl Spencer recounts being alerted to the crash by a phone call from his sister Jane in the middle of the night at his home in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Spencer → recount → Town
A call from Charles was among those that followed, and he alleges: "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.
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I → follow → time
The death of Diana, a hugely popular figure, created a volatile atmosphere in the country at the time, with the royals accused of failing to show feeling and empathy, and seeming to be out of touch with the public mood.
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royals → create → mood
Earl Spencer's emotional and defiant speech at her funeral added to that cloud of grievance hanging over Diana's death at the age of 36.
Prince Harry has previously said that walking behind his mother's coffin aged 12 was something no child "should be asked to do".
In 2017, he told the BBC he didn't "have an opinion whether that was right or wrong", but "looking back on it", he was glad to have been part of the day.
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he → add → day
The full interview with Laura Kuenssberg will be broadcast on BBC One at 18:30 BST on Sunday and be available the same day on BBC iPlayer from 16:00 BST.
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interview → broadcast → BST
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