City reporter
LONDON: Buckingham Palace questions the accuracy of a new memoir’s account of a heated argument between Diana’s brother and the then Prince Charles
Buckingham Palace has issued an unusually pointed response to claims by Earl Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, that King Charles III made a dismissive remark about his former wife shortly after her death in 1997.
In his forthcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer alleges that Charles told him, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough,” during a heated telephone argument over the funeral arrangements for Diana.
The dispute centred on whether Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, should walk behind their mother’s coffin. Spencer writes that he opposed the decision, believing Diana would not have wanted her young sons to endure the public ordeal. The princes ultimately took part in the procession through London.
According to extracts published ahead of the book’s release, Spencer interpreted Charles’s alleged remark as evidence of contempt for Diana and resentment at the public’s continuing grief.
Buckingham Palace has not directly confirmed or denied the words attributed to the King. Instead, a spokesperson said: “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 represents a rare response from the palace to a book about the royal family. Spencer’s memoir, due to be published on 22 September, is intended to offer his personal account of Diana’s life, death and legacy, reopening questions about the royal family’s handling of her funeral nearly three decades later.
