London – Nearly 30 years after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, her brother, Earl Spencer, has ignited a fresh and bitter public rift with the British royal family through his forthcoming memoir, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister”.
Serialised exclusively in the Daily Mail ahead of its publication on 22 September 2026, the book has already prompted an unusually forceful response from Buckingham Palace and drawn Prince Harry into the fray just weeks after he, Meghan and their children returned to live in Britain.
The central allegation centres on a telephone conversation in the days after Princess Diana’s fatal car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.
Spencer claims that the then-Prince of Wales subjected him to a “stream of anger” when the earl objected to Princes William, then 15, and Harry, then 12, walking behind their mother’s coffin in the funeral procession.
According to the extract, Charles “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 says he replied that he could not believe the words and hung up.
(Source: bbc.co.uk)
Further extracts paint an even starker picture of the immediate aftermath.
Spencer recounts that when Charles telephoned him in Cape Town to confirm the news, the prince “sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner.”
Looking back, Spencer suggests Charles’s first reaction may have been relief at the freedom to marry Camilla Parker Bowles.
He also claims some in the palace were “relieved – indeed pleased” at Diana’s death, and that the young princes were included in the procession partly to shield Charles from public abuse.
Other revelations touch on Diana’s mental health struggles, including contemplations of ending her life at Beachy Head that were halted by love for her sons, a last-minute offer from Queen Elizabeth II to restore Diana’s HRH title (which Spencer declined on principle), and Charles’s pre-wedding admission that he was not in love with his bride.
(Source: cnn.com)
Spencer has defended the accuracy of his recollections vigorously. In interviews, including with the BBC, he insisted: “Those are exactly the words he said… I was hyper alert to what he was saying, and those are precisely the words that he said.”
He framed the book as an attempt to correct “untruths” about his sister that have hardened into accepted narrative, speaking on her behalf as he did in his celebrated funeral eulogy.
(Source: bbc.co.uk)
Buckingham Palace’s response was swift and pointed, breaking from its usual policy of not commenting on books.
A spokesman 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.”
Sources close to the King described the alleged remarks as entirely out of character for a man who was “absolutely grief-stricken” at the time and who fought for Diana to receive a full royal funeral.
The statement has been widely compared to the late Queen’s “recollections may vary” after the Sussexes’ Oprah interview, signalling the depth of the palace’s irritation.
(Source: bbc.co.uk)
Prince Harry has been pulled into the controversy on multiple levels.
The funeral procession at the heart of the dispute has long haunted him; he has previously described walking behind the coffin as something no child should be asked to do, though he later said he was glad to have been part of the day.
In Spare, Harry recalled his uncle Spencer calling the plan “barbaric.” Spencer’s book also claims there was a “lack of obvious care” for the 12-year-old Harry after the funeral, leaving him to “spin out of control” without the nurturing he needed, a failure the earl believes contributed to later difficulties.
(Source: express.co.uk)
Harry was reportedly aware of the book’s contents.
Sources say he discussed it with Spencer during a July 2026 visit to Althorp with Meghan and their children to pay respects at Diana’s grave.
While the manuscript was not shared with either prince or the palace in advance, Harry is said to have known the broad thrust and not to have been shocked.
One report claimed he feels “completely vindicated,” seeing the memoir as confirmation of the institutional priorities he has long criticised.
The controversy erupted as Harry made his first significant public appearances since the family’s return to the UK in late August 2026, after six years in California.
That return itself was already delicate, coming amid unresolved tensions with William and the palace over security, status and trust. The book has only amplified the sense of competing narratives.
(Source: pagesix.com)
Has the ghost of Princess Diana returned to haunt the King? In a sense, yes.
Diana’s death remains the rawest wound in the modern monarchy. Spencer’s memoir, arriving just before the 30th anniversary year, forces a re-examination of Charles’s character, his marriage and the palace’s handling of the princess both in life and death.
Public sympathy still leans heavily toward Diana; social media and traditional press coverage have largely treated Spencer’s account with seriousness, even as the palace questions its reliability.
For a monarch in his late seventies, still navigating cancer treatment and the ongoing estrangement within his own family, the timing could scarcely be more awkward.
Harry has not issued a formal public statement on the specific allegations.
Sources close to him emphasise that he views Spencer’s intervention as a defence of Diana rather than an attack on the institution, and that any discomfort it causes the palace is the palace’s problem.
His return to Britain was already described by him as “eventful but wonderful.”
The latest chapter ensures that the eventfulness will continue.
As Swan Song hits the shelves, the old fault lines between the Spencers and the Windsors, between duty and humanity, and between memory and official narrative, are once again laid bare for the world to see.
Disclaimer: This article was compiled using the AI tool Grok on X and may contain inaccuracies
