Charles Spencer’s forthcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has triggered an unusual direct rebuttal from Buckingham Palace following the release of excerpts detailing private conversations held after Princess Diana’s death in August 1997. According to the book, King Charles sounded “giddily elated, like a lottery winner” during a phone call shortly after the fatal crash in Paris, a claim that highlights enduring tensions surrounding the royal family’s handling of the tragedy.
Buckingham Palace Responds to Memoir Excerpts
The upcoming publication, set for release on September 22, has already prompted significant public friction. In an excerpt published by the Daily Mail, Earl Spencer claims he was told by Queen Elizabeth’s senior aides that Princes William and Harry would walk in their mother’s funeral procession. Earl Spencer states he opposed the decision, telling aides, “That’s not going to happen,” on the grounds that Diana would not have wanted her young sons to endure such a public ordeal.
Moments after that conversation, Earl Spencer alleges he received a call from Charles. According to the memoir, Charles drew a parallel to his own experience walking in the funeral procession of his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten—though Earl Spencer notes in the text that Charles had been 30 years old at the time, whereas William and Harry were 15 and 12, respectively. Following a heated exchange, Earl Spencer writes that Charles unleashed “pent-up contempt for Diana” and hissed, “‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!'”
Buckingham Palace issued a rare and robust public response to the allegations. While noting that the institution does not comment on books as a matter of principle, a palace spokesperson stated: “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 judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.” The Palace further noted that it did not recognize the specific words attributed to the King, challenging the reliability of recollections formed during a period of intense national grief.
Disagreements Over the Funeral Procession
The debate over the funeral procession remains one of the most scrutinized aspects of the week following Princess Diana’s August 31, 1997, death. Diana was killed alongside Dodi Al-Fayed when their car crashed in a Paris tunnel while fleeing paparazzi. The subsequent public outcry focused heavily on the royal family’s initial refusal to fly the Union flag at half-mast at Buckingham Palace and perceived coldness from senior royals.
Earl Spencer contends in his memoir that palace representatives believed the presence of Princes William and Harry walking alongside their father, grandfather Prince Philip, and uncle in the September 6 funeral procession would help protect Charles from public anger and potential heckling. Prince William and Prince Harry have both spoken in later years about the profound emotional weight of participating in that public walk.
Prior to the book’s wide release, copies of the unreleased memoir were reportedly stolen from a truck in the Netherlands, according to BBC reporting. Earl Spencer has defended the project, stating ahead of publication: “The aim of this book is to tell the truth about Diana from her brother’s perspective … I want to speak on Diana’s behalf and do so in an openly positive way.”
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