In the book, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer claimed that during a row the pair had over her funeral plans, the then Prince of Wales \u201chissed\u201d to him on the phone: \u201cRest assured, we\u2019ll forget her soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
The incendiary allegation led Buckingham Palace to release a swift and unusual statement accusing the King\u2019s former brother-in-law of \u201cclouded reasoning\u201d and \u201ccoloured memory\u201d.<\/p>\n
Queen Camilla quoted a proverb about the importance of unity, as Buckingham Palace said Earl\u2019s controversial memoir betrayed “clouded reasoning”. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Now, Lord Spencer has used television interviews to double down on his accusations, insisting that he was \u201ctelling the truth\u201d and stating that \u201cthose are exactly the words he said\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Palace has declined to comment further amid the ongoing serialisation of Lord Spencer\u2019s book, being published in the Daily Mail but the escalating row has threatened to drag the Palace into a back-and-forth.<\/p>\n
Despite the allegations, Their Majesties have continued with business as usual, with Queen Camilla appearing in good spirits as she made her usual appearance at the festival for her Covid book club-turned-charity on Saturday afternoon (local time).<\/p>\n
Earl Spencer claimed that during a row the pair had over Princess Diana’s funeral plans, King Charles \u201chissed\u201d to him on the phone:\u00a0\u201cRest assured, we\u2019ll forget her soon enough.\u201d. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Upon arrival at Chatsworth\u2019s South Terrace, she was greeted by a round of applause before she embarked on an extended walk through the grounds with Gyles Brandreth, the broadcaster and her friend.<\/p>\n
Brandreth, who is a trustee of the Queen\u2019s Reading Room, said: \u201cThe reason we are here is that, a few years ago, Her Majesty thought, \u2018I love reading, these are the books I love reading. If I share my books maybe other people will like them too\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom that simple idea \u2013 the Queen putting online the books she likes the most \u2013 has grown this extraordinary following, literally millions of people around the world are now reading books recommended by Her Majesty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Representatives from four local book clubs were introduced to the Queen, including the Elm Foundation Book Club, the Women on the Road to Healing Book Club, Scathin Book Shop Book Club and the Books, Biscuits, and Bifocals Book Club.<\/p>\n
\u2018I wanted to share my love of books\u2019<\/p>\n
The Queen then unveiled her winter picks, which included Finding Belle by Reeta Chakrabarti, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Whistler by Ann Patchett and Sashenka by Simon Sebag Montefiore.<\/p>\n
She also delivered a speech marking six years of her Reading Room, created as a book club in 2020 during the pandemic, and reaffirming her passion for literature.<\/p>\n
Queen Camilla said: \u201cI created my Reading Room simply because, like all of us here, I love books and their life-enhancing power and I want to share that love with others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn those early days, I had no idea if anyone would be interested, but six years on, we are a global community of millions from over 180 countries, swapping recommendations, undertaking research and donating thousands of books to women\u2019s refuges and homeless shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n
She joked that when the club launched, it might have been \u201ccalled The Long Shot by Dee Featist\u201d, but that her \u201cfeelings would have been better captured in How Books Can Change Lives by Mustafa Hope\u201d.<\/p>\n
Queen Camilla also thanked guests for \u201cthe incredible support offered to us by a huge number of book lovers: writers, actors, publishers and, above all, readers\u201d.<\/p>\n
While at Chatsworth, the Queen met aspiring writers in the Writer\u2019s Room tent and members of local book clubs in The Book Club Tent. She also attended William Sieghart\u2019s Poetry Pharmacy, in which Natascha McElhone, the actress, read for the audience.<\/p>\n
Accompanied by hosts Lord and Lady Burlington, the Queen also viewed Chatsworth\u2019s House of Stories exhibition, which has been staged to celebrate the National Year of Reading.<\/p>\n
The head of collections at the estate showed Her Majesty a selection of items that are special to Chatsworth, including first and early editions of work by Chaucer, Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Charlotte Bront\u00eb.<\/p>\n
In the Sculpture Gallery, Queen Camilla attended a reception with literary figures taking part in the festival, including Lee Child, Elif Shafak, Kate Atkinson and Ken Follett.<\/p>\n
To mark the fourth Queen\u2019s Reading Room Festival and its return to Chatsworth, details about a forthcoming BBC documentary on Her Majesty\u2019s championing of reading were released.<\/p>\n
Queen Camilla will explore the \u201ctransformative power of reading\u201d in the BBC Arts programme The Book That Changed My Life, which is scheduled to air next month.<\/p>\n
The BBC has said the documentary will follow the Queen as she meets four people whose lives books changed at moments when they most needed them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWarm, emotional, and full of hope, the film explores how reading can lift us, open our minds and, sometimes, change the course of a life,\u201d the broadcaster has said.<\/p>\n
The details of the show were shared during a festival discussion on the power of book clubs, led by Ann Cleeves, a novelist and crime writer.<\/p>\n
During the event, she spoke with Ian Kirby, one of the documentary\u2019s contributors, asking him about his own experience of finding community and hope through reading.<\/p>\n
Kirby, from Gateshead, fell into a deep depression after a traumatic incident at home, but turned his life around after joining a local book club and picking up the autobiography of Glenn McCrory, a local boxing hero, which offered a new perspective on his own experiences.<\/p>\n
Speaking in the documentary, he said: \u201cThat is the beauty of a book. It can give you experiences you\u2019ve never experienced, but they can also be an inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queen Camilla announced the programme during a Clarence House reception celebrating the fifth anniversary of her book club in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the book, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer claimed that during a row the pair had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26676,534,115,26523,36124,128519,156,298723,2082,9462,5971,111,139,69,6379,1523,3366,29689,21038,198172,190008],"class_list":["post-606257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-allegations","tag-amid","tag-calls","tag-camilla","tag-damaging","tag-earl","tag-entertainment","tag-espoused","tag-for","tag-memoir","tag-need","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ongoing","tag-over","tag-queen","tag-row","tag-spencer","tag-spencers","tag-togetherness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}