Charles called Diana ‘chubby’ after engagement, claims Spencer’s memoir
Diana suffered from an eating disorder which worsened after Charles called her “chubby,” Earl Spencer has claimed in his bombshell memoir.
In an extract from his book, serialised in the Daily Mail, the Earl claims that ahead of his sister’s wedding, Prince Charles had squeezed Diana’s waist and said, “Oh, a bit chubby here, aren’t we?”
The earl said his sister found the comment “devastating,” later telling him that her “waist shrank from 29 to 23 and a half inches between her engagement and her marriage,” which were five months apart in 1981.
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 13:30
Royal expert suspects ‘collusion’ and ‘guilt’ behind Earl Spencer’s bombshell claims
A war of words has broken out between the royal family and Princess Diana’s brother over allegations made in his upcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.
Revelations from the book, serialised by the Daily Mail before it is published on Tuesday (22 September), have so far focused on the King’s behaviour, from alleged statements he made to Diana before their marriage to the Earl’s claims about comments the King made to him before her funeral.
Richard Fitzwilliams told The Independent he believes Earl Spencer is “haunted … by demons of himself” and that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had some part to play.
”Timing all this just so happens it’s just after Harry and Meghan have come back… The Sussexes, whether they actually saw the manuscript or what they knew about it, of course, I don’t know. But I’m absolutely certain that there was some form of collusion or appears to have been.”
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 13:00
King ‘sounded giddily elated’ after Diana’s death, book claims
King Charles allegedly acted like a “lottery winner” in the hours after Princess Diana’s death, her brother Earl Spencer has claimed in his bombshell new memoir.
In the latest serialisation of the damning book, the then-Prince of Wales is accused of appearing “giddily elated” on the phone, shortly after his former wife had been killed in a car crash in Paris.
Earl Spencer has also revealed details about the couple’s unhappy marriage, and Diana’s wish to call off the engagement prior to their wedding in 1981.
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 12:30
Prince Charles ‘had no place at his his ex’s funeral’
Earl Spencer recalled his sister’s funeral as a “a form of mental torture,” stating that he believed neither Prince Charles, or Princes William and Harry should have been in attendance.
Sharing his feelings on the funeral procession, one passage read: “What was Prince Charles actually doing there? I thought at one moment.
“This ex-husband, from a marriage that had collapsed so bitterly four years before and finally ended in divorce a year earlier, surely had no place at his ex’s funeral.
“Supporting his sons was the reason given for his prominent place, but what were the boys doing there, anyway? It all seemed mad to me.
“I was anxious that I could not look sideways to check how Harry was doing. But at one point I found us marching briefly out of sight, under a massive arch. Relieved that nobody could see us here, I quickly leant across to Harry, and gave him an encouraging hug. ‘Well done, Harry!’ I said. ‘You’re doing bloody brilliantly!’”
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 12:00
How close was Charles Spencer to his sister Diana? Inside their complicated family bond
As Diana’s younger brother goes to war with the palace over incendiary revelations from his new book about his sister, Katie Rosseinsky takes a closer look at their sibling relationship, from a deep childhood connection to more friction and distance in later in life.
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 11:30
Watch: Charles went ‘ballistic’ in phone call row over Diana funeral arrangements, claims Earl SpencerCharles went ‘ballistic’ in phone call row over Diana funeral arrangements, claims Earl Spencer
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 11:00
Diana contemplated ‘ending it all’, memoir claims
In passages of his bombshell book, Earl Spencer spoke of how his sister contemplated “ending it all” before her death.
He said she drove “more than once” to the cliffs at Beachy Head in East Sussex and was “contemplating ending it all”, adding that “her love for her sons stopped her from going further”.
The book reads: “It is a sad fact that, in her later years, Diana drove herself more than once to Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in England, while contemplating ending it all.
“Her love for her sons stopped her from going further.”
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 10:40
Earl Spencer’s bombshell book claims Charles acted like a ‘lottery winner’ in hours after Diana’s death
King Charles allegedly acted like a “lottery winner” in the hours after Princess Diana’s death, her brother Earl Spencer has claimed in his bombshell new memoir.
In the latest serialisation of the damning book, the then-Prince of Wales is accused of appearing “giddily elated” on the phone, shortly after his former wife had been killed in a car crash in Paris.
Earl Spencer has also revealed details about the couple’s unhappy marriage, and Diana’s wish to call off the engagement prior to their wedding in 1981.
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 10:20
Watch: William’s new battle as uncle and brother tell their ‘Diana Truth’
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 10:00
Recap: The Queen offered to restore Diana’s honorifics posthumously
Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore Diana’s HRH title at her funeral, Earl Spencer has claimed.
The Earl wrote he rejected the late Queen’s “well-meaning” gesture to restore Diana’s HRH title posthumously as it felt like a “consolation award”. He claimed his sister was “dreadfully hurt” by the “petty and vindictive” decision to remove her title, and just hours after her funeral she offered to restore it.
“I felt that I knew in my bones how she would view this posthumous award,” he writes. “That’s very kind of the Queen, of course. But what’s the point, Robert? Now? I mean – Diana’s dead.”
He said that just hours after his eulogy at Diana’s funeral, the late Queen’s private secretary Robert Fellowes beckoned him into a quiet corner of the carriage.
“I have just received a call from Her Majesty… and she would like to offer Diana her HRH title back,” he wrote Mr Fellowes as saying.
While the Earl later wondered if he was right to reject the award, he felt “the title should never have been removed during her life, in which case it would not have been necessary to offer it to her in death.”
Nicole Wootton-Cane19 September 2026 09:40