Earl Spencer Clashes with King Charles III Over Diana Memoir

Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Charles Spencer, criticized Buckingham Palace after they questioned his memory of a conversation with King Charles III. He claimed he was being “gaslit” by the monarch. Spencer’s comments came ahead of the release of his memoir, ‘Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.’

The controversy began when The Daily Mail published an excerpt where Spencer described a contentious conversation with Charles post-Diana’s death. He alleged that Charles remarked, “We’ll forget her soon enough,” a claim Buckingham Palace disputes. They suggested grief might have clouded Spencer’s recollection.

During an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Spencer responded to the palace’s reaction. “It is not every day you wake up to find you’ve been gaslit by the king,” he said. He considered the palace’s response a poor imitation of their “recollections may vary” statement, initially used after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The excerpt detailed a phone call with Charles, six days after Diana’s death in August 1997. In it, Spencer claimed Charles expressed pent-up contempt for Diana and insisted, “We’ll forget her soon enough.” The two disagreed over having Prince William and Harry walk behind Diana’s casket during her funeral.

Buckingham Palace issued a statement, noting that “fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and color memory.” Spencer remained firm on his account during a BBC One interview, contending he clearly remembered the conversation because he seldom spoke with Charles.

When interviewer Laura Kuenssberg highlighted the palace’s denial, Spencer insisted, “They’ve sort of smudged that one.” He maintained that the public should believe him over the palace and asserted he recounted the conversation to friends and family immediately.

Spencer suggested his nephews, William and Harry, were already aware of his version. He expressed doubt over whether they would be upset by his account since it was not news to them.

Princess Diana died in a tragic car crash in Paris at 36, along with her partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul. At the time, she and Charles had been divorced for around a year.

In his 2023 memoir, ‘Spare,’ Harry recounted the decisions made during Diana’s funeral. He noted the opposition from Uncle Charles regarding him and William walking behind their mother’s coffin. Spencer described the experience on BBC Radio 4 in 2017 as “the most horrifying half an hour of my life,” acknowledging it was “bizarre and cruel.”

‘Swan Song: Diana, My Sister’ is set to be released soon, promising more revelations about Diana’s life and the royal family.