Photo-Illustration: Photo-Illustration: Photo Illustration by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, elicited a rare response from Buckingham Palace with allegations in Swan Song, his new book about his sister. The palace hardly ever responds to “tell-all” books, which means it must have found these claims particularly egregious.
In the book, per an excerpt published in the Daily Mail, Spencer recalled an argument with his brother-in-law, the then-Prince Charles, after Diana’s death. The prince wanted his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to walk behind the coffin during the funeral procession, which Spencer was against, leading to a tense argument. “Prince Charles continued his stream of anger without me interrupting. Then he stopped,” Spencer wrote. “I assumed the pause signaled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death.” Spencer wrote that King Charles “hissed” over the phone, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!”
It seems that the king disputes this recollection. Buckingham Palace released a statement implying that Spencer’s memory must simply be faulty due to grief. “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle,” the statement published by People reads, “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.”
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