Earl Spencer alleges King Charles dismissed Diana after her death

Earl Spencer has alleged that King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, said of Princess Diana days after her 1997 death that the family would soon forget her, a claim that has drawn a highly unusual rebuttal from Buckingham Palace. The allegation appears in Spencer's forthcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which is being published on Tuesday, September 22, and was detailed in a BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg ahead of the book's release. According to Spencer, the remark came during a phone call in which he objected to Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, walking behind their mother's coffin in the funeral procession. He said Charles responded by attacking the Spencer family's sense of duty before saying, Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough. Spencer said he was so stunned that he replied he could not believe what he had heard and hung up. He has insisted the words are accurate, saying he had only ever had two phone calls with Charles and was hyperalert during them. Buckingham Palace responded with a statement questioning the veracity of Spencer's account, saying that fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory.