Princess Diana’s brother claims King Charles sounded ‘giddily elated’ after her death
Princess Diana’s brother has made shocking new claims about King Charles’ response to her death, saying that he sounded ‘giddily elated… like a lottery winner’.
Earl Spencer has penned a new book - titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister - which he says he hopes will correct ‘untruths’ about his older sister who tragically died in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
In the book, which hasn’t been released but has been serialised in the Daily Mail, Spencer recalls the days following his sister’s death.
He wrote: "The phone rang constantly. Prince Charles caught me as I crossed the landing upstairs.
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"Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated - like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time.
"He let me know he had informed William and Harry of their mother's death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral. It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.
"Looking back now, I suspect the prince's first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not."
The claims released today come just hours after Buckingham Palace released an ‘unprecedented’ response to other allegations made in the book.
In an excerpt from the upcoming memoir, Spencer claimed that he and Charles had got into a spat over the decision to have William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, walk behind their mum’s coffin at her funeral in September 1997.
He alleged that things got heated between the pair as he told the then-prince that was not what his ‘sister would have wanted’.
He wrote: “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 response to the claims, a spokesperson from Buckingham Palace said in a 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 decision to release the statement has been branded as ‘very unusual’.
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine and author of Catherine And Diana, The Women Who Shaped The Monarchy, told the Press Association the palace’s response to Earl Spencer’s claims was ‘unprecedented’.
She said: “It’s unprecedented as far as I can think. It’s very unusual, let’s say. Very unusual.
“I imagine it’s because the King was very upset and wanted to set the record straight – more on behalf of his sons than anything else.”
Topics: UK News, Royal Family, King Charles III, Prince Harry
Claire Reid