Earl Spencer publishes Diana memoir alleging King Charles made callous remarks after 1997 crash

Publication and core allegations

Charles Spencer, the ninth Earl Spencer and younger brother of the late Princess Diana, published his memoir titled "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" on Tuesday, 22 September 2026. The book covers his sister's life, her difficult marriage to King Charles III, and the days following her death in a Paris car crash on 31 August 1997. In pre-released excerpts serialized in the Daily Mail, Spencer alleges that the then-Prince Charles sounded "giddily elated" and "like a lottery winner" during a phone call immediately after Diana died. Spencer suggests Charles viewed the event as an opportunity that would allow him to marry Camilla. He also writes that during an angry dispute over whether Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, then 12, should walk behind their mother's coffin, Charles told him they would forget Diana soon enough.

Response from Buckingham Palace and author defense

Buckingham Palace issued a formal statement disputing Spencer's claims, taking an unusual step regarding royal memoirs. The palace stated that fraternal grief can impair judgment and alter recollections of past events.

“The pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory.”

In subsequent interviews with the BBC and other broadcasters, Spencer defended his account and insisted that his quotation of Charles was accurate. Spencer noted that he had previously informed William and Harry about their father's remark. He also stated that he knows further details about the monarch that he chose to omit from the volume.

“Those are precisely the words he said.”

Disclosures regarding Diana's personal struggles

The memoir recounts several private moments from Diana's life, including personal doubts that arose before her 1981 wedding. Spencer writes that Diana considered breaking off the engagement because she worried Charles did not love her, raising those concerns with their father, Edward Spencer. The book states that Diana contemplated suicide in her later years and drove multiple times to Beachy Head cliff, stopping only because of her love for her sons. Spencer also writes that Queen Elizabeth offered through her private secretary to posthumously restore Diana's "Her Royal Highness" title on the day of the funeral, an offer he rejected as too late. Additionally, the book claims Diana believed Charles had romantic feelings for his royal valet, an individual identified by British media as Michael Fawcett.

Legal challenge from Piers Morgan

The memoir has prompted an immediate legal challenge from broadcaster and former tabloid newspaper editor Piers Morgan. Speaking on his YouTube show "Piers Morgan Uncensored", Morgan announced plans to sue Spencer over what he described as fabricated inaccuracies. Spencer wrote in the book that he contacted editors to uninvite them from Diana's funeral, alleging Morgan snarled with annoyance before hanging up. Spencer also claimed Morgan was responsible for publishing hidden-camera gym photographs of Diana in a leotard. Morgan disputed this by showing that the Sunday Mirror published the photographs on 7 November 1993, while he was working for The Sun and nearly two years before he became editor of the Daily Mirror in October 1995.