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ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship says that after a ‘punchy’ statement issued on Wednesday, the Palace is unlikely to continue responding to repeated bombshell claims made in Earl Spencer’s new memoir
The King sounded “giddily elated… like a lottery winner” when he rang the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, following her death, Earl Spencer’s new memoir claims.
In excerpts published by the Daily Mail on Thursday, the book – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – the Earl spoke of how Charles’s phone call following the car crash in 1997 “all sounded strangely matter-of-fact”.
One passage read: “Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time.
“He let me know he had informed William and Harry of their mother’s death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral.
Earl Spencer (centre) walks alongside his nephews at Princess Diana’s funeral. Credit: PA
“It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.
“Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must 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.”
Elsewhere in the memoir, the Earl made multiple claims about Charles and Diana’s marriage.
He wrote that he had seen his sister sitting quietly in front of a mirror on the morning of her wedding, having been told by Charles the day before that he was “very happy” to marry her, but was “not actually in love with her”.
The Earl also claimed Diana had told their father she could not go through with the marriage a month before the big day, but said she was told it was “impossible to pull out”.
Diana was so unhappy in the marriage she drove herself “more than once” to Beachy Head cliffs in East Sussex and contemplated “ending it all”, the Earl wrote.
He stated that it was love for her sons, Prince Harry and Prince William, which stopped her taking her own life.
When asked about the latest claims, Buckingham Palace referred ITV News to its statement issued on Wednesday, suggesting its position remained the same.
Hitting back at claims in Charles Spencer’s upcoming memoir, the palace said in a statement that “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.Commenting after the excerpts were published on Wednesday, a palace spokesman said: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.”
This is the Talking Royals – our weekly podcast about the Royal Family, with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Producer Lizzie Robinson.