Buckingham Palace responds to Princess Diana's brother's memoirs

Buckingham Palace issued a statement following the appearance in the press of excerpts from the book by the brother of the late Princess Diana, Earl Charles Spencer. In his memoirs about his sister, Spencer claims that after her death, the current King Charles, then Prince Charles, told him on the phone that the princess would soon be forgotten.

The book, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, will be published in the UK next week. However, the British tabloid Daily Mail has already begun publishing excerpts from it, and some of Charles Spencer's statements have caused a scandal.

As BBC royal affairs correspondent Sean Coughlan notes, the death of Diana, who enjoyed enormous popularity, led to the emergence of a rather toxic atmosphere. Many then accused the royal family of failing to show empathy and behave in accordance with the mood of society.

During the funeral, Diana's brother gave an emotional and harsh speech, which reinforced this reaction. And his current book allows us to understand exactly how he looked at the events of that time.

What exactly does Charles Spencer say and what does Buckingham Palace say?

In a published excerpt from his memoirs, Charles Spencer claims the then-Prince of Wales reacted with "a torrent of anger" at his suggestion that Diana would not have wanted her sons William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12 respectively, to take part in the foot procession for their mother's coffin.

Charles Spencer's book says: “In that telephone conversation, he [Prince Charles] unleashed on me what I had always considered to be his deep-seated contempt for Diana and his horror that the world was so stunned by her death. “Rest assured,” he hissed, “we will forget her pretty quickly.”

In response, Buckingham Palace released an unexpectedly harsh statement. According to our correspondent, the royal family were clearly angered by Earl Spencer's claims and attempted to cast doubt on them.

“As a matter of principle, we do not comment on the publication of books, but His Majesty takes into account that the pain of losing a sister can cloud the mind, influence the assessment of events and distort memories. Other people may not realize this even many years after a similar grief,” the statement said.

As our correspondent notes, these words are somewhat reminiscent of Elizabeth II's unexpectedly firm response to accusations of racism made by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan in 2021. The Queen then stated that "recollections [of certain events] may vary."

The current king's former press secretary, Julian Payne, told the BBC he "didn't recognize those words at all" as Charles. He calls Buckingham Palace's current statement "very unusual" and believes that members of the royal family "must have been so worried that they felt it necessary to openly issue a denial."

On July 1 of this year, Diana would have turned 65 years old. She died in a car accident in Paris in 1997, when she was 36.