King Charles makes rare comment following Princess Diana’s brother’s claim about her death
Buckingham Palace has issued a response after the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales claimed in his memoir that King Charles said a shocking comment in the days after her death.
Earl Spencer, who has penned a book which addresses the aftermath of his sister’s death almost 30 years ago, recalled a conversation he had with Charles in preparation for Diana’s funeral.
It is alleged in the book that Charles subjected Earl Spencer to a ‘stream of anger’ after he insisted his late sister would not have wanted her young sons, Princes William and Harry who were aged 15 and 12, to walk in her funeral procession.
In the excerpt, which was published on Wednesday (16 September) by the Daily Mail, Charles, who was the Prince of Wales at the time, is alleged to have said that ‘we’ll forget her soon enough’.
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However, the Palace has pushed back against the claims in a rare statement.
"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," the statement reads.
Earl Spencer’s book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is expected to be published in the UK on 22 September however copies were reportedly stolen from a truck in the Netherlands.
The BBC reported four copies were stolen while en route to a warehouse and local police are investigating.
In the first excerpt to be released, Earl Spencer claims he was informed by a senior aide in the Palace that his nephews would walk alongside Princess Diana’s coffin.
He strongly rejected the idea and claims to have received a phone call from Charles shortly after.
Earl Spencer explains in the book: "He [Charles] unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. 'Rest assured,' he hissed, 'we'll forget her soon enough'."
Diana remains a hugely popular figure and her death in a car crash in 1997 led to mourning across the world. She is known for her charity work, empathy and her style.
During her funeral on 6 September, 1997, Earl Spencer delivered an emotional speech. He said: "Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality. Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.
"Today is our chance to say thank you for the way you brightened our lives, even though God granted you but half a life."
Princes William and Harry did walk in their mother’s procession and years later, Harry said this was something no child ‘should be asked to do’.
In 2017, he spoke to the BBC about walking behind his mother’s coffin aged 12 and said he didn’t ‘have an opinion whether that was right or wrong’, however ‘looking back on it’, he was glad to have been part of the day.
Topics: Royal Family, King Charles III, Princess Diana, Books
Greg Harris