Charles Spencer's account of a heated phone call with King Charles in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death has prompted an unusual response from Buckingham Palace. An excerpt published in the Daily Mail on September 16 from Spencer's forthcoming memoir, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," includes an allegation that Charles said the world would soon forget Diana. The Palace, citing a standing policy against commenting on books, nonetheless issued a statement on the King's behalf.
Spencer, the 9th Earl of Spencer and Diana's brother, writes that the call with the then-Prince of Wales began as an argument about the royal family's decision to have Prince William and Prince Harry walk behind their mother's casket at the funeral. He alleges the conversation escalated, with Charles saying: "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough." Diana died in August 1997 at age 36 from injuries sustained in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. Her partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul also died in the crash. At the time, she and Charles had been divorced for one year. The pair married in July 1981, announced their separation in December 1992, and finalized the divorce in August 1996.
The Palace's statement, attributed to a spokesperson and reported by People, read: "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 color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss." The framing does not constitute a direct denial. The statement's existence is itself the departure: Palace communications have long treated biographies and personal memoirs as off-limits for official response.
The dispute over the procession
The question of whether William and Harry should have walked behind their mother's coffin has appeared in public record before. Spencer told BBC Radio 4's Today program in 2017 that he found the decision "bizarre and cruel" and called it "the most horrifying half an hour of my life," describing the experience of moving through what he called "a tunnel of deep emotion." Harry addressed the same episode in his 2023 memoir "Spare," writing that several adults objected and quoting Spencer as having argued that forcing the boys to walk was "barbaric." Spencer's new memoir adds the allegation about the phone exchange with Charles that, by his account, followed those objections.
"Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" publishes on September 22.