Watch: Diana's brother says Charles 'went ballistic' in phone call after her death

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

Quick Summary

Earl Spencer revealed in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that King Charles reacted angrily during a phone call following Princess Diana's death. According to Spencer, Charles allegedly stated, "we'll forget her soon enough," amidst a dispute about whether Princes William and Harry should participate in their mother's funeral procession. Buckingham Palace responded by emphasizing the impact of grief on one’s judgment and memory, defending Charles against these allegations.
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

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.

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
4
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
50%
2 of 4 hedged
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Correction & hedging signals
78.1
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
93
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Diana Controversies Royal Family
Politics · 93 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 50% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
'I'm telling the truth': Earl Spencer defends Diana book claims about Charles in BBC interview same event · 100%
BBC News · 0.92 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 18% hedged 5 of 28 📰 publisher trust 78
“Both articles describe Earl Spencer's BBC interview about his new book claims regarding a phone call with Prince Charles after Princess Diana's death.”
Earl Spencer doubles down on claims about ‘monstrous’ call with King Charles after Diana’s death same event · 100%
The Guardian · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 38% hedged 9 of 24 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles discuss Earl Spencer's claims about a phone call with King Charles following Princess Diana's death, specifically mentioning the alleged 'we'll forget her soon enough' comment.”
'Is he furious or embarrassed?' Diana's brother stands firm on King Charles claim same event · 100%
Times of India · 0.87 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 21% hedged 3 of 14 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe Earl Spencer's exclusive BBC interview about his claims regarding a phone call with King Charles after Princess Diana's death, referencing Buckingham Palace's response.”
Palace responds to Earl Spencer bombshell claims King said Diana would be forgotten 'soon enough' same event · 100%
Evening Standard · 0.87 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 15% hedged 2 of 13 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles discuss Earl Spencer's allegations about a phone call with Charles after Princess Diana's death and Buckingham Palace's response.”
Charles ‘giddily elated’ after Diana’s death, her brother claims: ‘Like a lottery winner’; Buckingham Palace responds same event · 100%
Times of India
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 26% hedged 5 of 19 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe Charles's phone call with Diana's brother immediately following her death in 1997.”
Princess Diana's brother says, "I felt it my duty to lay out the true history" same event · 100%
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 3 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles report on Earl Spencer's interview about his new accusations against Britain's royal family regarding Princess Diana, specifically mentioning a phone call with King Charles following her death.”
Diana's brother says he's 'telling truth' about king's 'monstrous' phone call same event · 100%
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 22% hedged 6 of 27 📰 publisher trust 61
“Both articles discuss Earl Spencer's interview with BBC about claims made in his book regarding a phone call with King Charles after Princess Diana's death.”
‘Those are exactly the words he said’: Earl Spencer says he is telling the truth about the King same event · 95%
The Sydney Morning Herald · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 31% hedged 9 of 29 📰 publisher trust 61
“Both articles describe Earl Spencer's claims about Charles's alleged phone call after Princess Diana's death, including the quote 'we'll forget her soon enough,' and mention Buckingham Palace's response.”
Earl Spencer insists 'I'm telling the truth' about Charles saying Diana would be 'forgotten' and calls it 'monstrous' in BBC interview same event · 95%
Daily Mail · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 13% hedged 2 of 15 📰 publisher trust 65
“Both articles discuss Earl Spencer speaking with the BBC about claims made in his book regarding a phone call with Prince Charles after Princess Diana's death.”
King Charles issues rare statement disputing claims from Princess Diana’s brother same event · 95%
National Post · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 29% hedged 6 of 21 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles refer to King Charles' rare statement and Princess Diana's brother's claims about a phone call following her death, describing the same incident with different details.”

Publisher

BBC News · 2521 article(s) · 2 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 2 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

No reporter is named on this article.

Topics

BBC Buckingham Palace

Subjects

Charles PERSON · 2× Diana PERSON · 2× BBC ORG · 1× Buckingham Palace ORG · 1× Earl Spencer PERSON · 1× Harry PERSON · 1× Laura Kuenssberg PERSON · 1× Princess Diana PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Princess Diana's brother said King Charles "went ballistic" during a phone call with him in the days after his sister's death.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18
🔮 Earl Spencer spoke exclusively with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg about claims he has made in a new book, alleging 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.
2026-09-18 · BBC News
Watch: Diana's brother says Charles 'went ballistic' in phone call after her death · mixed framing

Claims (4 extracted, 2 hedged)

Watch: Diana's brother says Charles 'went ballistic' in phone call after her death asserted
Charles → watch → death
Princess Diana's brother said King Charles "went ballistic" during a phone call with him in the days after his sister's death. asserted
Charles → say → death
Earl Spencer spoke exclusively with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg about claims he has made in a new book, alleging 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. uncertain
William → speak → procession
In a strongly-worded response to the book claims, 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". uncertain
others → word → loss
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