{"id":906424,"date":"2026-09-26T17:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T17:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906424\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T17:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T17:04:31","slug":"charles-spencers-swan-song-rocked-the-royal-family-but-the-bigger-pr-challenge-is-still-ahead-regarding-princess-diana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/906424\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Spencer\u2019s ‘Swan Song’ Rocked the Royal Family, But the Bigger PR Challenge Is Still Ahead Regarding Princess Diana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated3 min read<\/p>\n

As we emerge out of the other side of wall-to-wall coverage of Earl Spencer\u2019s Princess Diana book, the damage from the war of words can be surveyed. From the initial blow to King Charles in the Daily Mail\u2019s first serialized extract, to the way that the Earl doubled down in the face of Palace pushback, the monarchy has taken something of a battering from the book\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

Yet, in this particular PR battle, the Palace has also been declared<\/a> victorious. The admission of a factual inaccuracy in relation to Piers Morgan has opened the floodgates to debates over Swan Song\u2019s credibility. In addition to the Palace\u2019s statement<\/a>, allies of the King have come forward to very publicly declare the allegations about how he reacted to Diana\u2019s death just not within his character. Earl Spencer has also been branded a \u201chypocrite\u201d for selling the book after previously saying he would not profit from Diana\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\"Swan<\/a><\/p>\n

So far so murky. Initial polling shows the public were divided over whether to believe what the King was accused of saying. In the absence of evidence (and from the King\u2019s perspective, how would you prove a negative), there is little chance of the focus on this taking on new resonance.<\/p>\n

But as the news agenda moves on there is a bigger PR challenge looming for the King and Queen in the upcoming 30th anniversary of Diana\u2019s death<\/a>. With still almost a whole year to go, talk has already turned in earnest to how the moment might be marked. It is unlikely to go without significant fanfare. And while it is one thing for the Palace to be in a PR battle with Earl Spencer over his particular style of brotherly tribute, it is quite another for them to be in one with Princess Diana and her legacy.<\/p>\n

You only have to see what happened during season four of The Crown<\/a> back in 2020 to understand the potential impact of the resurrection of Diana\u2019s story and her unhappiness within the royal fold. Clarence House, representing then Prince Charles and Camilla, had to turn off the comments on their Instagram feed after the real-life royals were on the receiving end of trolling over the Netflix drama. The Crown is fictional, but non-fiction accounts from that era pose just as many challenges for the royals.<\/p>\n

\"KingMax Mumby\/Indigo\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Queen Camilla and King Charles in early September.<\/p>\n

Camilla\u2019s image has been successfully transformed from a vilified figure seen as the \u201cother woman\u201d to being accepted as Queen. Scandals like \u201cCamillagate<\/a>\u201d\u2014if you need to look it up, then do\u2014are mostly confined to history (well, and the internet). The King and Queen go about their important day to day work with little evidence of the past looming large. Today, honoring Diana does not have to mean pitting yourself against Charles and Camilla.<\/p>\n

But could the current status quo be more fragile than we think? Polls show us<\/a> that the British public is sold but not totally sold on the current monarch and his consort. Some 62% have a positive view of King Charles and 31% have a negative view. For Queen Camilla, it\u2019s almost 50\/50 either way, with 43% saying they view her positively and 44% negatively. It\u2019s a far cry from the popularity ratings that Queen Elizabeth enjoyed and those held by Prince William and Kate.<\/p>\n

\"InAnwar Hussein\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Charles and his sons look at floral tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales outside Kensington Palace, September 1997.<\/p>\n

The 30th anniversary of Diana\u2019s death is next August, but as we have seen with Earl Spencer\u2019s book, tributes could come at any time in the run-up. Prince Harry has, I am told, discussed a number of projects and is still considering the most meaningful way to honor her. William may well take a different view and feel that he said everything he wanted to say ten years ago at the 20th anniversary. \u201cWe won\u2019t be doing this again\u2014we won\u2019t speak as openly or publicly about her again,\u201d William said for an ITV documentary<\/a> both Princes made in 2017 about their mother.<\/p>\n

Yet even without those closest to her choosing to speak out, there can be no getting away from the fact that an abundance of coverage will be launched in media and online for the anniversary. In an increasingly sophisticated internet age, interest in Diana and her story has the potential to reach more and more people of all generations instantly and repeatedly in the run-up to this milestone.<\/p>\n

One potent take was recently provided by a piece by UK TV host Lorraine Kelly, who interviewed<\/a> Earl Spencer about his book. The headline read, \u201cDiana remains utterly unforgettable – it\u2019s her greatest revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Play\"Video\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Town & Country Contributing Editor Victoria Murphy has reported on the British Royal Family since 2010. She has interviewed Prince Harry and has travelled the world covering several royal tours. She is a frequent contributor to Good Morning America. Victoria authored Town & Country book The Queen: A Life in Pictures<\/a>, released in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3 min read As we emerge out of the other side of wall-to-wall coverage of Earl Spencer\u2019s Princess…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,271887,428,474375,430,134,433,308081,2387,267130,474374,474373,366213,271886],"class_list":["post-906424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-collection-royal-family-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-b5a3eeb1-c3c4-4407-a558-0a3bb79c4a65","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-hasproduct-true","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-read_time-4","tag-royal-pr-challenge-remains","tag-shorttitle-after-swan-song","tag-sponsored-false","tag-subsection-heritage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906424","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=906424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}