A memoir by Charles Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, has ignited a fierce public dispute with Buckingham Palace ahead of its publication on Tuesday, with explosive allegations about King Charles's conduct in the hours and days following Diana's death in Paris in August 1997. The book, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is being serialised in the British press and has already dominated front pages across the country.
The most incendiary claim is Spencer's account of a phone call with the then Prince of Wales shortly after Diana died, in which he says Charles sounded "elated, like someone who had won the lottery" — an impression Spencer interprets as relief that Diana's death might now allow Charles to marry Camilla Parker Bowles. Spencer also writes that Charles told him: "Don't worry, we'll have forgotten her soon enough." Spencer describes having argued strenuously that the young princes — William, then 15, and Harry, then 12 — should not be required to walk behind their mother's coffin in the funeral procession, calling the idea "utterly barbaric." Charles reportedly dismissed his concerns and subjected him to "a torrent of fury." The princes did ultimately walk in the procession. Spencer additionally alleges that palace staff felt relief, even satisfaction, at Diana's death, and that his family was sidelined from decisions about the funeral arrangements, including a reported refusal to play Mozart's Requiem.
Buckingham Palace issued a response that was, by royal standards, unusually combative. Normally the palace does not comment on books, making the statement all the more striking. "His Majesty is aware that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways that others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss," the statement read. The language echoes the carefully worded palace response to allegations made by Prince Harry and Meghan in 2021, when the palace noted that "recollections may vary." Julian Payne, a former communications secretary to the king, told the BBC that the remarks attributed to Charles were "simply not language I recognise," and that in the aftermath of Diana's death Charles had been "absolutely firm" that her memory should be respected. Sources close to the king say he insisted on a formal ceremonial funeral for Diana and that her coffin be draped in the royal standard upon its return from Paris.
The memoir arrives as the Spencer–Windsor family rift, stretching back decades, enters a new chapter. Diana and Charles married in 1981, when she was 20 and he was 32; by 1992 the marriage had collapsed. Spencer writes that Diana considered cancelling the engagement, that Charles told him on the eve of the wedding that he "very much wanted to get married, but was not in love," and that Diana suffered from what Spencer believes was undiagnosed ADHD, combined with acute emotional sensitivity to rejection. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of Diana's death, and the book is framed as Spencer's attempt to set the record straight.
The dispute matters beyond royal gossip. Diana's death triggered an unprecedented public outpouring of grief and a period of acute public pressure on the royal family, which was widely criticised at the time for appearing cold and out of touch. Spencer's emotionally charged eulogy at her funeral deepened the sense of tension that hung over those events. His book threatens to reopen those wounds at a moment when the monarchy is navigating a complex landscape — including the intermittent returns of Prince Harry and Meghan to Britain. Whether the memoir clarifies history or simply revives old conflicts, the one certainty that emerges from all accounts is that the week of Diana's death remains one of the most contested episodes in modern British royal history.