Earl Spencer alleges King Charles was elated after Diana's death

Earl Spencer has alleged in his forthcoming memoir that King Charles reacted with elation to Princess Diana's death in 1997 and made a dismissive remark about her memory. The claims, published in excerpts from "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," have prompted an unprecedented public response from Buckingham Palace. In the memoir, scheduled for publication on September 22, 2026, Spencer writes that then-Prince Charles sounded "giddily elated like a lottery winner" during a phone call in the days following Diana's fatal car crash in Paris. Spencer also asserts that Charles told him, "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough," during an argument about whether Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, should walk behind their mother's coffin at the funeral. Buckingham Palace issued a rare statement in response, noting that while it does not comment on books as a matter of principle, King Charles 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 Palace's intervention is described as a departure from its usual silence on such matters.