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.
Charles Spencer has made a series of damning claims about the King in a new memoir chronicling his sister Diana that prompted an “unprecedented” response from Buckingham Palace who said “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.
uncertain
pain → make → reason
But in an extract of an interview with the BBC, Earl Spencer questioned whether the official response showed if the King was furious or embarrassed by the claim.
uncertain
King → question → claim
Speaking about an alleged row over Diana’s funeral arrangements involving her sons, the earl said: “(The King) went ballistic, would be the right term, and started really going for my family as a whole, about their sense of duty, not being adequate enough, and ranted for a while, I have no idea how long, but it was a significant period, and I just listened.
“
asserted
I → speak → idea
And then he stopped, and I thought, ‘Oh now he’s going to pull himself together and say something more appropriate’.
asserted
he → stop → something
“And then he said, ‘We’ll forget her soon enough’.”
asserted
We → say → her
Earl Spencer was questioned by broadcaster Laura Kuenssberg, who asked what he was thinking at that moment.
asserted
he → question → moment
Diana’s brother replied: “I really was so stunned, and I just, after a stunned silence, I said, ‘I cannot believe you just said that’, and I hung up on him.”
asserted
I → reply → him
Charles is said to have made the comments about his ex-wife in a row with the earl over whether the then Prince William and Prince Harry should follow Diana’s funeral cortege.
asserted
William → say → cortege
The earl says in his book – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – he insisted to the then Prince of Wales that his sister would not have wanted her boys to make the difficult public walk behind her coffin, it is claimed.
asserted
it → say → coffin
The memoir is being serialised in the Daily Mail which says the book has been written to correct “untruths” told about his older sister, who died in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
asserted
who → serialise → August
During the telephone conversation, Charles told the earl he had walked in the funeral procession of his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, it is claimed.
asserted
it → tell → uncle
But the King “went nuts” when the earl pointed out that Charles had been 30 at the time of Lord Mountbatten’s funeral in 1979, it is alleged.
asserted
it → go → 1979
In response to the claims made in the memoir a Buckingham Palace spokesman said on Wednesday: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, 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.”
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others → make → loss
Asked about Buckingham Palace’s response to his claims, Earl Spencer told the BBC: “Is he (the King) furious, or is he embarrassed?
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he → ask → BBC
Because I can tell you, here and now, those are exactly the words he said.
asserted
he → tell → you
“I’ve only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life.
asserted
I → have → life
“I was hyper-alert to what he was saying, and those are precisely the words he said, and I promise that to you now, genuinely, that is what he said.”
asserted
he → say → what
Asked whether he has “evidence” of the King’s comments, the earl told the BBC: “I told friends and family straight away, close friends and family, about what had been said, because it was so monstrous.”
asserted
it → ask → friends
He added: “I’m telling the truth.”
asserted
I → add → truth
In the latest serialisation extract of the book Diana’s brother describes the day of her funeral, writing: “I could not get over how tiny, and slight, and bereft, Harry looked.
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Harry → describe → funeral
“Too small to be doing this, I thought, and wondered how on earth this heartbroken child could bear the ordeal of that moment, or how he could possibly be expected to deal with the agony that the day ahead would insist upon.”
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day → do → that
In a 2017 interview with Newsweek Harry said about Diana’s funeral: “My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.
asserted
millions → say → television
“I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances.
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child → think → circumstances
I don’t think it would happen today.”
asserted
it → think → ?
The memoir also claims the King sounded “giddily elated… like a lottery winner” when he rang the earl following Diana’s death.
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he → claim → death
In other passages of the book, the earl spoke of how his sister drove “more than once” to the cliffs at Beachy Head in East Sussex and was “contemplating ending it all”, adding that “her love for her sons stopped her from going further”.
asserted
love → speak → her
The excerpt later goes on to claim that Diana told her brother “my husband is in love with his valet” after telling him she was going to get divorced.
uncertain
she → go → him
The Aporia
