Described by tabloids and royal experts as a real "media bomb" destined to rekindle a historic rift between the Spencer family and the Windsors, the book contains very serious revelations and accusations that are deeply shaking Buckingham Palace.
The English media called it the "memoir of the year". Pages of revelations, more or less shocking, about Lady Diana's life, about her marriage to the then Prince Charles, and above all about what happened behind the scenes of the funeral in September 1997. "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" by Charles Spencer promises to make the royal family tremble and is already causing a lot of discussion. Starting with the fee received by the brother of the unfortunate ex-Princess of Wales: one million pounds.
The volume is divided into 31 chapters, each of which recalls and delves into a fragment of the famous speech that Charles gave in 1997 during the funeral in Westminster Abbey. Almost 30 years after his sister's death, the author declares that he wrote this book to clarify and restore an honest, positive and authentic image of the princess, tired of too many speculations and "lies" consolidated over time. Among the revelations that touch on the past of the Spencer family, the count also mentions an alleged old platonic love story that would have linked Queen Elizabeth II and Diana's father (John Spencer), adding a further and unexpected piece to the complex entanglements between the two dynasties.
The one who came out badly, as expected, was first and foremost King Charles, so much so that he took the absolutely unusual decision to immediately comment on his ex-brother-in-law's revelations because he was "deeply hurt and very angry". In the memoir, Count Spencer retraces the days immediately following Diana's tragic death, directing harsh criticism at the current sovereign. Spencer claims that during a phone call immediately after the Paris incident, the then Prince Charles told him: "Don't worry, we'll forget about it soon", underlining how Charles appeared almost "euphoric, like someone who had won the lottery", relieved by the end of public tensions with his ex-wife. “The pain clouded his mind” reads a note from Buckingham Palace. The official note released by the Crown therefore dismisses Spencer's accusations as the result of a trauma never fully overcome.
The earl also points the finger at the king for the management of his children, accusing him of having insisted that William and Harry - very young at the time - parade on foot behind their mother's coffin. An experience defined as “traumatic”. Spencer claims to have tried to oppose this decision but Charles would have replied: "You have no bloody sense of duty" telling him how he himself had walked behind the coffin of his uncle Lord Mountbatten. “Yes – Lady Diana's brother would have replied – but you were already 30 years old”. Spencer calls walking behind his sister's coffin a harrowing experience. Prince Philip, according to what the count writes, had instructed everyone to stare straight ahead without any attention, especially towards the youngest, Prince Harry.
Spencer doesn't even hide his sister's fragile state in the years of her union with Carlo and in those of their divorce. More than once the princess, who appears to have shown signs of ADHD since she was a child, had driven to the cliffs of Beachy Head, which overlook the English Channel, contemplating ending it all. Only love for her children managed to stop her. On the eve of the wedding, on what Diana herself defined as the worst day of her life, Carlo told her that he was happy to marry her, but that he was not in love with her. Spencer also claims that Diana once told him she wanted a divorce for a reason he never expected: “My husband is in love with his valet,” his sister explained to him. The valet in question was Michael Fawcett, historical assistant of the current sovereign and for years under the magnifying glass for this alleged connection, always denied by Buckingham Palace.
