King Charles and Princess Diana’s brother are at the center of a remarkable new royal dispute nearly 30 years after her death.
The controversy erupted after Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, alleged in his upcoming memoir Swan Song: Diana, My Sister that the future King made a deeply dismissive remark about Diana during a heated telephone conversation shortly after she died in 1997.
Buckingham Palace responded almost immediately — an unusual move for a royal household that typically avoids commenting on books.
The disagreement has now reopened one of the most painful chapters in modern royal history: the battle over how Diana’s funeral should be handled and whether her young sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, should walk behind her coffin.
According to Spencer’s account, he and the then-Prince Charles argued about the funeral arrangements in the days following Diana’s death in a Paris car crash on Aug. 31, 1997.
William was 15 at the time. Harry was only 12.
Spencer says he objected strongly to the idea of the boys walking publicly behind their mother’s coffin.
During that argument, Spencer alleges Charles told him that Diana would soon be forgotten.
That account is Spencer’s recollection and has not been independently verified.
Buckingham Palace responded with an unusually pointed statement questioning the reliability of memories formed during extreme grief.
“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 color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss,” a palace spokesperson said.
The wording amounted to a clear challenge to Spencer’s version of events without directly saying the conversation never occurred. (apnews.com)
Reuters described the response as notably strong given the royal family’s longstanding reluctance to engage publicly with memoir allegations. (reuters.com)
The dispute became even more significant Thursday when one of Charles’s former senior aides publicly defended him.
Julian Payne, who served as communications secretary to the then-Prince of Wales from 2016 to 2021, told BBC Radio 4 that the description of Charles in Spencer’s book did not resemble the man he worked for.
Payne said Charles was “absolutely emphatic” that his staff should never criticize Diana or undermine her memory.
According to Payne, that instruction remained firm even as the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death brought renewed scrutiny to the former couple’s relationship. (theguardian.com)
That does not establish what Charles said during a private telephone argument in 1997, but it provides additional context to the palace’s unusually forceful response.
The dispute centers on a decision that has followed William and Harry throughout their adult lives.
On Sept. 6, 1997, the two young princes walked behind Diana’s coffin through London alongside their father, Prince Philip and Charles Spencer.
Images of the procession became some of the defining photographs of Diana’s funeral.
Spencer has long maintained that he opposed the boys taking part.
In a BBC interview years later, he called the decision “bizarre and cruel” and said he believed Diana would not have wanted her sons placed in that position.
Harry later confirmed in his memoir Spare that his uncle strongly objected.
William, however, has described the final decision somewhat differently, saying in the 2017 documentary Diana, 7 Days that it was a collective family decision rather than the choice of one person.
Those differing accounts show why reconstructing exactly what happened inside the royal family during that week remains difficult nearly three decades later.
Spencer’s role in the funeral was itself historic.
He delivered the eulogy inside Westminster Abbey and used the speech to promise that Diana’s family would help protect William and Harry as they grew up.
He also criticized the intense media scrutiny Diana had endured.
Watch Charles Spencer deliver his eulogy at Princess Diana’s funeral
The archival footage, published by AP Archive, shows Spencer delivering the speech as crowds outside Westminster Abbey and in Hyde Park listened.
His remarks were interpreted at the time as criticism not only of the press but also of the royal establishment.
That history gives the new book dispute an added layer.
Spencer is not only writing about his sister’s life. He was directly involved in some of the most consequential decisions made during the week after her death.
Penguin Random House says Swan Song will be published in the United States on Sept. 22.
The 384-page memoir covers Diana and Spencer’s childhood together, her marriage into the royal family, her global fame and the final week of her life.
The publisher describes the book as Diana’s story told from the perspective of her younger brother. (penguinrandomhouse.com)
See the official publisher page for Swan Song
Spencer has said he wrote the memoir as the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death approaches and wanted to present what he considers an accurate account of his sister’s life.
The book contains more than the disputed “forgotten” remark.
New excerpts published this week include Spencer’s description of Charles’s demeanor after Diana died and his recollections of the arguments surrounding William and Harry.
Those descriptions remain Spencer’s interpretation of private events.
King Charles has not personally addressed the claims in public.
Instead, Buckingham Palace has responded through its spokesperson while former aides have begun offering their own accounts of how Charles regarded Diana’s legacy.
The disagreement comes almost three decades after Diana’s death but demonstrates how unresolved the history surrounding that week remains.
Diana and Charles had finalized their divorce in August 1996, one year before she died.
After the Paris crash, Charles traveled to France to accompany Diana’s body back to Britain.
Her coffin was draped with the Royal Standard, and a large ceremonial funeral was ultimately held at Westminster Abbey on Sept. 6.
Public pressure surrounding the monarchy’s response to Diana’s death was intense.
Crowds left enormous quantities of flowers outside royal residences, and the royal family faced criticism for remaining at Balmoral during the first days after the crash.
The palace eventually adjusted several aspects of its response as public emotion grew.
Those events have since been examined in books, documentaries, films and television series — often with competing accounts of who made which decisions.
Spencer’s new memoir now adds another version.
What can be established is that he opposed William and Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin, that the princes ultimately did participate, and that Spencer delivered one of the most memorable royal funeral speeches of the modern era.
What remains disputed is exactly what was said privately between Diana’s brother and her former husband during those chaotic days.
Nearly 30 years later, that disagreement has once again placed Diana — and the royal family’s response to her death — at the center of public attention.
Leave a Reply