Earl Spencer defends memoir claims regarding King Charles and Princess Diana

Memoir claims and palace reactions

Excerpts from Charles Spencer's forthcoming memoir, titled "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister", appeared in the Daily Mail ahead of its release, detailing conversations surrounding Princess Diana's life and death. The ninth Earl Spencer recounted telephone exchanges with the then Prince of Wales in 1997, alleging that Charles made dismissive remarks about Diana after her fatal car crash in Paris. Buckingham Palace responded with a rare public statement disputing the reliability of Spencer's account. The Palace pointed to the emotional toll of his sister's death as a factor influencing his memory.

His Majesty is conscious that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and distort memories in ways that others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.

Disputed phone calls from 1997

Speaking from his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire on Friday, 18 September 2026, Spencer defended his account in an interview with BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg. Spencer stated that during a heated argument over whether Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, then 12, should walk in their mother's funeral procession, Charles became furious. According to Spencer, Charles ended his remarks by stating that the public would soon forget Diana. Spencer recounted hanging up the telephone in response to the remark, adding that he informed relatives and friends at the time because of how shocking he found the statement.

In my whole life, I have only spoken on the phone with Prince Charles twice. I was alert to what he was saying and these are exactly the words he used.

Allegations surrounding the royal divorce

The book also details personal conversations between Spencer and Diana prior to her 1996 divorce. During a lunch at the San Lorenzo restaurant in London in the 1990s, Diana told her brother that she intended to end the marriage because Charles was in love with his valet. While Spencer did not name the staff member in the text, royal reporting identified the individual as Michael Fawcett, a long-time aide to Charles. Similar allegations had surfaced in 1996 from another palace employee, though Buckingham Palace and police dismissed those claims in 2003 as unsubstantiated. Spencer wrote that he initially worried the British public would blame Diana for ruining their marital image before she disclosed her reasons.

Additional recollections and aftermath

Spencer's memoir contains several other claims regarding the royal family's private interactions during that era. He wrote that Charles sounded detached and upbeat when delivering the news of Diana's death from Balmoral, where the young princes were informed in their rooms early in the morning. Spencer attributed this reaction to Charles's relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom Charles later married in 2005. The book also asserts that Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore Diana's royal title on the day of the funeral, and that Diana had told her father before the 1981 wedding that she did not wish to marry. Buckingham Palace declined to provide further comments following Spencer's BBC interview.