KING CHARLES HITS BACK AT EARL SPENCER’S EXPLOSIVE DIANA CLAIM — Palace Issues Rare Response To Allegation He Said “We’ll Forget Her Soon Enough”
King Charles has issued an unusually pointed response to extraordinary claims made by Earl Spencer about the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death — after her brother alleged the then Prince of Wales told him: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”
The allegation appears in Spencer’s new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which examines his sister’s life, her troubled marriage to Charles and the events surrounding her death in Paris in August 1997.
According to Spencer’s account, the comment came during an angry phone call over arrangements for Diana’s funeral and the decision to have Princes William and Harry walk behind their mother’s coffin.
But Buckingham Palace has rejected the implication behind the claim, offering a striking reminder that memories of traumatic events can change over time.
A spokesman for the King 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.”
THE PHONE CALL SPENCER SAYS HE WILL NEVER FORGET
Diana died in a car crash in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997.
In the days that followed, the focus turned to her funeral and the extraordinary public grief that surrounded her death.
Spencer claims that one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s senior aides told him William and Harry would take part in the procession behind their mother’s coffin.
His response, according to the memoir, was immediate:
“That’s not going to happen.”
Spencer says Charles then called him and pointed to his own experience of walking behind the coffin of Lord Mountbatten, his great-uncle who was murdered by an IRA bomb in 1979.
But Spencer argues the circumstances were fundamentally different, noting that Charles had been 30 when he took part in Mountbatten’s funeral, while William and Harry were still children.
According to Spencer, the conversation became increasingly heated.
He claims Charles “went nuts” when he challenged the comparison.
THE MOMENT SPENCER SAYS CHARLES “UNLEASHED”
Spencer describes the conversation as a lengthy exchange in which Charles allegedly continued expressing his anger before suddenly pausing.
The Earl says he initially assumed the silence meant Charles was attempting to regain control.
Instead, he claims, the then Prince of Wales made the comment that has now become the most explosive passage from the memoir.
“Rest assured,” Spencer recalls him saying, “we’ll forget her soon enough!”
Spencer interprets the remark as evidence of what he describes as Charles’ “pent-up contempt for Diana” and his discomfort with the enormous public reaction to her death.
That interpretation comes from Spencer’s recollection and is not independently established.
DIANA’S BROTHER AND THE FUNERAL PROMISE
The dispute is particularly striking given Spencer’s role at Diana’s funeral.
On September 6, 1997, he delivered an emotional eulogy in which he pledged that Diana’s family would protect William and Harry.
He promised:
“We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.”
The image of William and Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin became one of the defining moments of Diana’s funeral.
Spencer’s memoir now revisits the decisions behind that procession and the private conversations he says took place before it.
A ROYAL RESPONSE THAT ECHOES ANOTHER PALACE REBUKE
The King’s response has drawn attention because of its wording.
The emphasis on memories being affected by grief recalls the Palace’s famous response to Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview in 2021, when the late Queen Elizabeth II’s statement concluded that “some recollections may vary”.
At the time, Meghan had made allegations concerning conversations about Archie’s potential skin tone and described her own struggles with mental health while living as a working royal.
Buckingham Palace said then that the issues raised were “taken very seriously”, while adding that “some recollections may vary”.
The latest statement does not directly accuse Spencer of deliberately misremembering events. Instead, it points to the possible effects of grief on memory and judgement.
WHY SPENCER HAS WRITTEN THE BOOK NOW
Spencer, 62, has said he was prompted to write Swan Song: Diana, My Sister ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death next year.
He has said he wanted to correct what he believes are “untruths that have become accepted” about his sister.
The memoir is expected to explore Diana’s childhood, her unhappy marriage to Charles and the extraordinary aftermath of her death.
But its first revelations have already reopened one of the most painful periods in the Royal Family’s recent history.
And with further extracts expected to emerge before the book’s publication next Tuesday, the extraordinary exchange Spencer says took place in the days after Diana’s death is unlikely to be the last controversy surrounding his account.