King Charles has issued an unusually pointed response after Princess Diana’s brother claimed the future monarch made a shocking remark in the days after her death.
Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, makes the allegation in his upcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which is scheduled for release on Sept. 22.
In the book, Spencer describes an angry phone call with the then-Prince Charles shortly after Diana died in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.
According to Spencer, the argument centered on whether Prince William and Prince Harry — then just 15 and 12 — should walk behind their mother’s coffin during her funeral procession.
Spencer says he strongly opposed putting the boys in such a public position while they were grieving.
He claims the conversation became heated before Charles allegedly told him that Diana would soon be forgotten.
The King has not personally commented on Spencer’s version of the exchange.
Buckingham Palace, however, issued a rare statement shortly after excerpts from the memoir were published, saying the King recognizes that deep grief can affect memory and judgment even decades later. (Reuters)
The palace statement did not directly confirm or deny that the conversation took place as Spencer remembers it.
That distinction is important because the account comes from Spencer’s own recollection nearly three decades later.
The dispute revives one of the most emotionally charged decisions surrounding Diana’s funeral.
William and Harry ultimately did walk behind their mother’s coffin through London on Sept. 6, 1997, alongside their father, Prince Philip and Charles Spencer.
The funeral at Westminster Abbey became one of the most-watched broadcasts in television history, with an estimated global audience of more than 2 billion people. (People)
The young princes’ participation has been debated ever since.
In the BBC documentary Diana, 7 Days, William later described the decision as a collective family choice rather than something imposed by one individual.
Harry has offered a more complicated account.
In his 2023 memoir Spare, he recalled that several adults objected to the idea and said his uncle Charles Spencer was particularly opposed to making the boys walk publicly behind the coffin.
Spencer now says that disagreement was at the heart of his alleged phone confrontation with the future King.
The timing was extraordinary.
Diana had died only days earlier at age 36 after a car crash in Paris, triggering an enormous public outpouring of grief across Britain and around the world.
Thousands of mourners gathered outside Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace, while mountains of flowers accumulated at royal residences.
The royal family’s initial response also became the subject of intense public scrutiny.
The family remained at Balmoral with William and Harry during the first days after Diana’s death, while criticism mounted over the absence of a public royal response and the decision not to lower the Buckingham Palace flag immediately.
The events of that week have since become a major chapter in modern royal history.
Spencer’s new memoir returns directly to that period.
Penguin Random House says Swan Song is a 384-page account of Diana’s life and death told from her brother’s perspective, covering their childhood together, Diana’s rise to global fame and the traumatic week following her death. (Penguin Random House)
See the official publisher page for Swan Song: Diana, My Sister
Spencer has described the memoir as his most personal book to date.
He said he chose to write it as the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death approaches rather than continue responding individually to repeated interview requests.
The book is also significant because Spencer has rarely spoken at such length about his sister.
He became one of the defining voices of Diana’s funeral when he delivered a highly emotional eulogy at Westminster Abbey, criticizing the intense media attention she had faced and promising that her blood family would help protect William and Harry.
Nearly 30 years later, he says the new memoir is intended to continue that effort.
Spencer recently wrote on Instagram that after finishing the audiobook recording, he felt he had finally said exactly what he wanted to say about his sister.
Visit Charles Spencer’s official Instagram account
He has described the project as a brother’s tribute to Diana and has said he believes she would have approved of what he wrote. (Marie Claire)
The memoir has generated attention even before reaching bookstores.
Four advance copies were reportedly stolen from a truck in the Netherlands while being transported from a European printing facility to a warehouse.
The Times reported that thousands of copies were inside the vehicle but only four copies of Spencer’s book were taken. Dutch police were reportedly investigating. (The Times)
The theft occurred just days before excerpts from the memoir began appearing publicly.
The book arrives as interest in Diana remains intense nearly three decades after her death.
She and Charles divorced in 1996, one year before she was killed.
William and Harry have both continued to speak publicly about how losing their mother at such young ages affected them, although they have sometimes described the events surrounding her funeral differently.
Spencer’s new account adds another version of what happened behind palace doors during those extraordinary days.
Buckingham Palace has made clear that it disputes the reliability of at least some of his recollections.
But with Swan Song due in stores Sept. 22, the long-running debate over Diana’s funeral — and the royal family’s handling of the days after her death — is being reopened once again.
