Buckingham Palace is engaged in a public dispute with Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, following the release of excerpts from his upcoming memoirSwan Song: Diana, My Sister. The book, scheduled for publication next week, details the Spencer family’s perspective on the events surrounding the Princess’s 1997 death and the subsequent impact on the Royal Family.
In the published excerpts, Earl Spencer alleges that shortly after his sister’s death, then-Prince Charles reacted with hostility during a phone conversation regarding the funeral procession. The Earl claims Charles reacted with anger when he insisted that Princes William and Harry—then 12 and 15 years old—should not be forced to walk behind their mother’s coffin. He alleges that Charles told him, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”
The Palace has issued an unusually forceful response to these claims, explicitly challenging the accuracy of the account. While maintaining the principle of not commenting on books, the statement emphasized that 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 firm language used by the Palace has drawn comparisons to the 2021 response regarding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, where the late Queen Elizabeth II stated that “recollections may vary.”
Former royal communications secretary Julian Payne told the media that the reported language attributed to the King is “just not language that I recognise.” He added that the decision to issue such a statement reflects the “strength of feeling” from the Palace regarding the necessity to correct the record.
The controversy emerged as multiple high-profile royal engagements took place simultaneously. On Thursday, King Charles hosted industry leaders at Dumfries House in Ayrshire to discuss the advancement of artificial intelligence. The monarch warned of the “existential dangers” associated with AI, urging tech executives to ensure that such powerful tools remain in the service of humanity rather than becoming a destructive, uncontrollable force.
Meanwhile, the Prince and Princess of Wales conducted an official visit to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute in Scotland. During their appearance, the couple—known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in the region—watched a shinty match in heavy rain. The Prince, who engaged with local players and discussed his experience playing field hockey at St Andrews University, remarked that the sport appeared “bruising.”
The scheduling of these events also coincides with the return of Prince Harry, who is set to attend the inaugural Invictus awards ceremony. This event honors the resilience and service of injured military personnel. This busy period for the royal family comes shortly after reports surfaced that copies of Earl Spencer’s book had been stolen from a transport vehicle in the Netherlands, adding a layer of logistical difficulty to the launch.
The claims within the memoir threaten to revive public scrutiny of a period in royal history that was marked by intense tension. At the time of Diana’s death, the Royal Family faced significant public backlash, with critics accusing them of being emotionally detached and out of touch with the national mood—a grievance that was exacerbated by Earl Spencer’s own speech at the funeral.
Prince Harry has previously addressed the trauma of that period, noting that no child should have been required to walk behind a parent’s coffin. However, he also shared with the media in 2017 that while he viewed the event through a complex lens, he ultimately felt a sense of pride in having participated in the day. The report also notes that in the wake of Princess Diana’s death in 1997, that “we’ll forget her soon enough”, according to excerpts in the Daily Mail, king Charles III is accused of insensitively telling Earl Spencer. The report also notes that angered by the claims and attempting to cast doubt on them, but the Palace has pushed back unusually strongly. The report also notes that two years before they separated, and Earl Spencer during a interview in 2024, charles and Diana pictured during a visit to Hungary in 1990. The report also notes that and the row threatens to overshadow a very crowded day for the royals – with the King, Prince William and Catherine attending events, and Prince Harry making his first big appearance since returning to the UK. The report also notes that a hugely popular figure, had created a volatile atmosphere, in which the royals were accused of failing to show feeling and empathy, and had seemed out of touch with the public mood, the death of Princess Diana. The report also notes that and this book will give an insider’s view on those events. The report also notes that who see it as being entirely out of character for a man with a deeply compassionate nature, who at the time was dealing with his own grief and that of their two sons, it is a claim that is being rejected by the Palace. The report also notes that in 2017, he said he did not “have an opinion whether that was right or wrong” but. “looking back on it”, he was glad to have been part of the day.
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