Prince William is reportedly furious that some of the most painful moments surrounding Princess Diana’s death have been dragged back into the spotlight nearly three decades later.
The Prince of Wales, 44, has not publicly commented on his uncle Charles Spencer’s explosive new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. But anonymous royal sources quoted by RadarOnline claim William is “beyond furious” over the renewed scrutiny of his mother, his father King Charles III and the traumatic days following Diana’s death.
That description of William’s reaction has not been independently confirmed, and Kensington Palace has not publicly issued a statement about the book.
What is confirmed is that Spencer’s memoir has triggered an extraordinary public dispute with Buckingham Palace ahead of its Sept. 22 release.
The 384-page book, officially published by Penguin Press, promises what Spencer describes as an intimate account of Diana’s life, their childhood together and the chaotic week following her death in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.
Among the most explosive passages is Spencer’s claim that Charles, then Prince of Wales, sounded unusually upbeat when the two men spoke after Diana died.
Spencer writes that Charles sounded “giddily elated” and compares his tone to that of someone who had just won the lottery, according to excerpts reported by Reuters and CBS News.
That is Spencer’s recollection, not an independently established account of Charles’ state of mind.
Spencer also claims an even more bitter exchange occurred while the family was arguing about Diana’s funeral.
According to the earl, he objected to the idea of 15-year-old William and 12-year-old Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin. During a heated phone conversation, Spencer alleges Charles told him that Diana would soon be forgotten.
Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of responding.
The Palace said the King was mindful that the pain of losing a sibling can affect a person’s judgment and memory even decades later — a pointed response widely interpreted as challenging Spencer’s version of events.
Spencer has refused to back down.
Speaking publicly as he promotes the book, Diana’s brother said his recollection was accurate and argued that the Palace response did not actually deny that the conversation happened.
In a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Spencer again discussed the royal fallout following his sister’s death and defended his decision to tell his version of what happened.
Watch Charles Spencer’s CBS Sunday Morning interview
The dispute is particularly sensitive for William because he lived through the events now being dissected.
William and Harry famously walked behind Diana’s coffin during the Sept. 6, 1997 funeral procession alongside their father, grandfather Prince Philip and uncle Charles Spencer.
Spencer now says he fought against having the boys take part.
The exact circumstances surrounding that decision have been debated for years. Harry revisited the experience in his own memoir, Spare, while William has previously described walking behind his mother’s coffin as an extraordinarily difficult experience.
Swan Song also ventures into far more personal territory.
Spencer writes about Diana’s periods of severe emotional distress and says she sometimes drove to Beachy Head, the dramatic cliffs on England’s southern coast, while experiencing suicidal thoughts. He says her love for William and Harry stopped her from going further.
Reuters independently reported that account from the book.
Those passages add another layer to a memoir already reopening some of the most contentious questions surrounding Diana’s marriage, divorce and death.
Spencer says his goal is not simply to attack the monarchy. Penguin describes the book as the story of Diana’s life and death from the perspective of the younger brother who grew up alongside her.
The earl has also said publicly that he supports both William and Harry and does not want to choose sides in the brothers’ long-running estrangement.
William, meanwhile, has remained publicly silent about Swan Song.
That makes the “beyond furious” description significantly different from the Palace’s response to Spencer’s allegations about King Charles. The King’s side has answered Spencer on the record through Buckingham Palace, while reports describing William’s feelings remain based on unnamed sources.
The controversy also arrives as another major Diana milestone draws closer. Aug. 31, 2027 will mark 30 years since the 36-year-old princess was killed following a car crash in Paris.
Whether William ultimately responds to his uncle remains to be seen.
For now, the public battle is largely between Spencer and Buckingham Palace — with Diana’s sons once again finding intensely personal moments from their childhood at the center of an international royal controversy.
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