Charles Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, accused King Charles III of gaslighting him after Buckingham Palace responded to claims made in his upcoming book. In an interview with ABC News, Spencer said that Charles went "ballistic" during a phone call about Diana’s funeral arrangements and allegedly stated she would soon be forgotten post-death. The palace defended its statement as reflecting the impact of grief on memory but did not directly address the claims.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
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.
In an interview ahead of the the release of his book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer accused King Charles III of gaslighting him.
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brother → accuse → him
Speaking with ABC News’ Maggie Rulli, Spencer said: “It is not every day you wake up to find you’ve been gaslit by the king.”
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you → speak → king
“It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I’d lied without the king being able to deny what I’d said,” he told the U.S. outlet.
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he → try → outlet
His comments came days after Buckingham Palace, in an unusual move, responded to claims made by Spencer, in an excerpt of his book published in the Daily Mail, that the then-Prince Charles said Diana would soon be forgotten after her death.
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Diana → come → death
“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 recognize, even many years after such a loss,” the statement said.
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statement → comment → loss
Spencer alleges that his former brother-in-law made the comment during a phone call discussing palace plans for Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk behind their mother’s coffin during her funeral procession.
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William → allege → procession
Spencer told the BBC in an interview aired Monday that he told the now-king that Diana would not have wanted her young sons to endure such an ordeal, and that Charles went “ballistic” at him.
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Charles → tell → him
He recalled sharing with friends what the now-king reportedly said about Diana during the call, describing it as “monstrous.”
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king → recall → it
“After a stunned silence, I said, ‘I cannot believe you just said that,'” he told BBC news presenter Laura Kuenssberg, and that he then hung up on the prince.
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he → say → prince
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“I felt there was a lightness in his tone about Diana’s death that really jarred with me,” he added.
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he → get → me
Kuenssberg, quoting directly from the book, asked Spencer when he wrote the “prince’s reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of the one he did not,” if he was suggesting that Diana’s death was convenient for the now-king.
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death → quote → king
“That is how I felt at the time from the tone of his voice,” Spencer responded.
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Spencer → feel → voice
When pushed by Kuenssberg to explain why the public should believe his version of events, Spencer said, “because I am telling the truth,” before reminding her of his eulogy at Diana’s funeral, where he said, “Above all, we give thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to be able to call my sister.
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I → push → woman
The unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana, whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds,” a conclusion he said was a “direct rebuttal” to Charles’ alleged remarks.
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he → extinguish → remarks
He told the BBC that his revelations will not be a surprise to Prince William and Prince Harry, and that he knows lots of things about the King that he chose not to include because they are not relevant, as the book is a “loving tribute to a sister.”
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book → tell → sister
He also likened his sister’s experiences with the tabloid press to that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s.
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He → liken → Harry
“If you look at an article in a tabloid about Diana or the couple that you were mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you know, they can be really, really unpleasant.”
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they → look → that
“And I think it would be really beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example.”
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it → think → example
“I’m not here to speak for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone who’s being destroyed in this way daily, it must be such a cancerous influence in their life,” he added.
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he → ’m → life
The publication of the book and the return of Harry and Meghan to Britain are another challenge for the King, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer.
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who → undergo → cancer
Diana’s family accused the royals of showing a lack of support or care towards the late princess before her death, a charge that was repeated by Harry, who is now largely estranged from the rest of the Royal Family.
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who → accuse → Family
A wave of mass grief for the Princess of Wales after her death forced the Royal Family to acknowledge the power of her common touch, a quality that strayed from its tight-lipped stoicism and was often deemed distasteful by senior members.
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that → force → members
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, comes out on September 22.
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Song → come → September
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