{"id":902335,"date":"2026-09-23T09:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/902335\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T09:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:16:19","slug":"earl-spencer-swan-song-the-11-biggest-claims-from-charles-spencers-book-on-his-sister-princess-diana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/902335\/","title":{"rendered":"Earl Spencer Swan Song: The 11 biggest claims from Charles Spencer\u2019s book on his sister Princess Diana"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Earl Spencer\u2019s controversial book about his sister Diana<\/a>, the late Princess of Wales<\/a>, is published around the world, the Duchess of Sussex<\/a> is raising eyebrows for a bizarrely timed product launch.<\/p>\n

Meghan\u2019s lifestyle brand As ever<\/a> has re-released a bookmark made from Italian leather, which previously sold for around $20, embossed with the phrase \u201cfell asleep here\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Copies<\/p>\n

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is now available in Australia. The memoir by Earl Spencer has not been without controversy.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

In an email to subscribers sent on the day Earl Spencer\u2019s book was officially released<\/a>, the duchess described the bookmark as a \u201ckeepsake … for moments when you have to take a pause from your favourite book\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Duchess of Sussex is not mentioned in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, despite Earl Spencer speaking about her and Prince Harry<\/a> in interviews promoting his book<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neither Prince Harry nor Prince William<\/a> have commented on their uncle\u2019s memoir publicly, despite both being asked about it by journalists<\/a> at separate engagements this week.<\/p>\n

Reprints of the book are now expected after Earl Spencer was forced to apologise<\/a> to Piers Morgan over inaccurate claims inside<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since extracts were first published last week, the book has been shrouded in controversy<\/a> and saw Buckingham Palace take the extraordinary move of issuing a statement<\/a> criticising its author. <\/p>\n

\u201cFraternal grief\u201d, the palace said, could \u201ccloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory … many years after such a loss\u201d.<\/p>\n

Here are some of Swan Song\u2019s biggest allegations.<\/p>\n

Queen offered to \u2018restore Diana\u2019s title\u2019<\/p>\n

When Diana and then-Prince Charles divorced in 1996, the Princess of Wales lost the title of Her Royal Highness. Spencer described the removal as \u201cpetty and vindictive\u201d, leaving Diana \u201cdreadfully hurt\u201d. It was part of \u201cthe package of humiliation handed to her at her divorce\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The then Prince and Princess of Wales pictured during their last official trip together in the Republic of Korea, in November 1992. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

But on the day of her funeral \u2212 August 6, 1997 \u2212 Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore the title. On the way to Diana\u2019s private burial at Althorp House, Robert Fellowes, Elizabeth II\u2019s private secretary, told the earl of the queen\u2019s \u201cwell-meaning\u201d offer to restore the princess\u2019 HRH title. But the earl felt it was a \u201cconsolation prize\u201d, telling Fellowes: \u201cWhat\u2019s the point, Robert? Now? I mean \u2212 Diana\u2019s dead\u201d.<\/p>\n

Royals had taken \u2018delight\u2019 in Diana\u2019s demotion<\/p>\n

Earl Spencer claims Princess Margaret refused to bow to Diana\u2019s coffin when it passed by her inside Westminster Abbey, after never forgiving the \u201cunforgivable act of treachery\u201d of the late princess choosing to do the Panorama interview<\/a> with the BBC in 1995.<\/p>\n

When he walked into the Abbey on the day of the funeral, the earl described how some members of the royal family had supported his sister while \u201cothers had taken delight in the demotion that had followed her divorce\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In the weeks following Diana\u2019s death, thousands upon thousands of mourners left tributes and flowers at the gates of Kensington Palace.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Princess Michael of Kent, he wrote, had \u201caccosted\u201d Diana soon after she lost her HRH title. The earl alleged Princess Michael had said \u201cwith feigned kindness\u201d, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Diana \u2212 you only need to curtsy to me when we are in public\u200a!\u201d<\/p>\n

Diana considered the princess her \u201cnightmare neighbour\u201d as they both lived inside Kensington Palace.<\/p>\n

Royals pushed Spencers aside during funeral planning<\/p>\n

In the days after Diana\u2019s death in Paris, Spencer claims his family were excluded from planning her funeral and were \u201csimply expected to fall into line with any royal decisions\u201d headed by the palace and Prince Charles\u2019 office.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiana remained theirs, in Buckingham Palace\u2019s eyes, even in death,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Diana\u2019s wish to have Mozart\u2019s Requiem played during the ceremony was denied, he said, having been told \u201cno part of a requiem can be played at a Church of England funeral\u201d.<\/p>\n

The earl later found out no such rule existed, describing it as \u201cthe first of several untruths that the authorities would push my way at that time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Charles \u201cwent nuts\u201d over procession plans<\/p>\n

Earl Spencer writes that he and Prince Charles clashed over plans for Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk behind their mother\u2019s coffin during the funeral procession.<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

Earl Spencer walked with Prince William and Prince Harry, and then-Prince Charles, and the Duke of Edinburgh, behind the princess\u2019 coffin at her funeral in 1997.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

When he had received word from a palace aide that William and Harry would take part in the procession behind Diana\u2019s coffin, the earl replied, \u201cThat\u2019s not going to happen\u201d.<\/p>\n

Soon after, he received a call from Charles, who said he had walked in the funeral procession of Lord Mountbatten, his great-uncle. The earl said Charles \u201cwent nuts\u201d when he pointed out the prince was 30 at the time of Mountbatten\u2019s funeral in 1979.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting,\u201d the earl wrote.<\/p>\n

Earl Spencer said he was later told palace officials wanted William and Harry to walk in the procession, fearing the public might shout abuse at Prince Charles. The presence of Diana\u2019s sons, he wrote, \u201cwould surely guarantee against insults flying\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ll forget her soon enough\u2019<\/p>\n

During that heated phone call with Prince Charles, Earl Spencer claims the future king \u201chissed\u201d at him after briefly pausing.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cI assumed the pause signalled 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. \u2018Rest assured,\u2019 he hissed, \u2018We\u2019ll forget her soon enough!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles \u2018giddily elated\u2019 by Diana\u2019s death<\/p>\n

Another of the harsher depictions of Prince Charles in the days after Diana\u2019s death was the claim he \u201csounded giddily elated\u201d when speaking of her passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated \u2212 like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time,\u201d the earl wrote.<\/p>\n

He claimed Charles\u2019 reaction to the news \u201cmust have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The earl\u2019s book contains a number of damaging claims about then-Prince Charles, which resulted in a rare response from Buckingham Palace.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Royals showed \u2018lack of obvious care\u2019 for Harry<\/p>\n

William and Harry walking behind their mother\u2019s coffin remains one of the most enduring images from her funeral.<\/p>\n

Writing of the procession, the earl said of his youngest nephew: \u201cI could not get over how tiny, and slight, and bereft, Harry looked. Too small to be doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough doubtless suffering equally terribly, [William] looked more self-possessed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Following the funeral, the family travelled via train to Althorp for Diana\u2019s burial.<\/p>\n

The earl wrote: \u201cMy chief memory of that train journey is of being concerned at the lack of obvious care for Harry, as he decompressed from the ghastliness of the morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needed Diana\u2019s hugs, of course, and they would forever be denied him. But instead of calm and nurture, he was allowed to spin out of control.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have often looked back, reckoning that a more caring hand at such points as this would have helped him enormously in the future. Instead, he seemed so very alone in his despair and torment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

Earl Spencer expressed concern for Prince Harry following Diana\u2019s funeral, believing Prince William was the stronger of the two.\u00a0WireImage<\/p>\n

Charles \u2018in love with his valet\u2019<\/p>\n

Another claim from the earl is that Diana once told him she was going to get a divorce and that \u201cmy husband is in love with his [male] valet\u201d. <\/p>\n

However, the earl himself admitted that such a claim by his late sister seemed \u201cimprobable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Diana, who called her brother \u201cCarlos\u201d \u2212 he called her \u201cDutch\u201d \u2212 had met the earl for lunch when she made the comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, Carlos, my husband is in love with his valet,\u201d she is alleged to have said.<\/p>\n

The earl added: \u201cShe did not name the member of staff, and I never asked her who it was, or why she would believe such an improbable thing. It was not important: the end of her marriage, and of her dreams, was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles told Diana he did not love her before wedding<\/p>\n

The day of the royal wedding on July 29, 1980, the earl found his sister \u201csitting quietly in front of a mirror\u201d in her wedding dress.<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/p>\n

Charles Spencer claims then-Prince Charles told his bride the night before their wedding that he was not in love with her.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

He later discovered the reason for her sombre mood was Charles had told his bride the night before that he didn\u2019t really love her, but he was happy for the wedding to go ahead.<\/p>\n

Charles had entered the marriage \u201cwith his heart elsewhere\u201d while Diana always wanted to \u201cmarry for love\u201d, the earl claimed.<\/p>\n

Diana pushed stepmother down the stairs<\/p>\n

The earl alleges Diana once pushed their stepmother, Raine Spencer \u2212 who the princess famously nicknamed \u2018Acid Raine\u2019 \u2212 down the stairs following a heated argument after the royal wedding.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cRaine fortunately landed flush on her buttocks, rather than on bone, and got up, leaving the saloon without a backwards glance\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Diana,<\/p>\n

Diana, pictured in 1986, was killed in a car accident in 1997 just 16 years after her marriage into the British royal family.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Diana had lost her temper when Raine told her: \u201cI have always felt so very sorry for the Prince of Wales, marrying someone quite as stupid as you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diana wanted her sons \u2018to become the best versions of themselves\u2019<\/p>\n

The earl describes his sister as a loving and devoted mother to her boys, William and Harry.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cWilliam and Harry\u2019s future had not been a worry when Diana was alive because her positive, modern, maternal touch was always so obvious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never, in my life, come across a better mother. She wanted them to become the best versions of themselves, despite all the royal trappings, and in the face of the sycophancy their position so often prompted in others.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he admitted to having fears for them once she had passed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever out of touch many in the royal family seemed, there had always been the reassurance for the public that their mother was going to give William and Harry values, insight and the emotional security that British princes had previously been denied,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Earl Spencer was full of praise for his sister as a mother, describing her as a doting figure to William and Harry.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now what would happen to them? They were still young enough to be easily influenced, and perhaps even to forget their mother\u2019s guidance and example.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould they, at such a formative stage, be dragged back into the archaic ways of the monarchy, just as they seemed set on the enlightened path picked out by their mother?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Earl Spencer\u2019s controversial book about his sister Diana, the late Princess of Wales, is published around the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-902335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}