King Charles issues rare response after Princess Diana's brother claims he said ‘we’ll forget her soon enough’ days after her death
Buckingham Palace has issued a rare response after Princess Diana’s brother claimed King Charles told him ‘we’ll forget her soon enough’ just days after her death.
Diana’s brother Earl Spencer made the claims in his bombshell upcoming book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which he says will correct ‘untruths’ about his older sister who tragically died in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
In an excerpt from the book, which has been serialised in the Daily Mail, Spencer says he and the then-prince got into a disagreement when they were discussing the arrangements for Diana’s funeral in September 1997 and clashed over whether Princes William and Harry, then 15 and 12, should walk behind her coffin.
Spencer claims that he was against the idea and said his sister ‘would not have wanted’ her young sons to be on such public display at the funeral, so he bluntly told the Royal Family: “That’s not going to happen."
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However, Spencer alleges that Charles would not back down and told him that 18 years earlier he had walked in the funeral procession of his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten.
Spencer says he pointed out that Charles had been 30 at the time of Lord Mountbatten’s funeral in 1979.
In his book, Spencer claims: “Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting. Then he stopped.
“I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he 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!'”
Spencer went on to say he was left ‘so stunned’ by the exchange that he initially was unable to reply before eventually telling Charles he ‘couldn’t believe’ he had said that.
In an unusual move, Buckingham Palace,has strongly pushed back against the claim.
A spokesperson said: "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."
Ultimately, William, Harry, Charles, Prince Philip and Earl Spencer walked behind Diana’s coffin in a funeral procession through central London to the funeral service at Westminster Abbey.
Spencer then delivered a passionate eulogy at Diana’s funeral, pledging the princess’ ‘blood family’ would protect William and Harry ‘so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as you planned’.
He went on to say: “We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.”
Charles and Diana married in 1981 and they went onto have William in 1982, and Harry in 1984.
However, after more than a decade of marriage they divorced in 1996, the year before her tragic death at just 36.
Charles went on to remarry Camilla in 2005.
Topics: UK News, Royal Family, King Charles III
Claire Reid