King Charles was 'giddily elated like a lottery winner' in a phone call hours after Princess Diana's death, according to a new book by her brother, Earl Spencer. The claim, published in the Daily Mail, is the latest in a series of incendiary allegations from the memoir 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister' that have sparked a war of words with Buckingham Palace.
Earl Spencer's account of the phone call
Earl Spencer writes that Charles, then Prince of Wales, sounded 'strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster' when he called to inform him of Diana's death in a car crash in Paris in 1997. 'Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time,' the Earl wrote.
The Earl also claims that Charles discussed how he had told his sons, Princes William and Harry, about their mother's passing 'first thing in the morning, in their bedrooms'. Reflecting on the call, Earl Spencer wrote: 'Looking back now, I suspect the prince's first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not. It can be hard to feel too much sympathy for an ex-spouse, or those who care for them profoundly, after bitter divorce.'
Dispute over princes walking behind coffin
The book also details an alleged furious reaction from Charles over whether William and Harry should walk behind Diana's coffin. Earl Spencer said he responded 'That's not going to happen' when a top Palace aide informed him of plans for the young princes to follow the procession during the funeral. Charles allegedly rang him within minutes to point out that he had walked behind Lord Mountbatten's coffin in 1979. The Earl claims that Charles 'went nuts' when he pointed out that Charles was 30 at the time of Mountbatten's funeral.
Earl Spencer quotes his uncle in the book as arguing they 'can't make these boys walk behind their mother's coffin! It's barbaric.' The book alleges that Charles questioned the Spencer family's 'sense of duty' and then unleashed what the Earl described as 'pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death', saying: 'Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough!' The Earl said he promptly hung up after the exchange.
Palace response and King's public appearance
Buckingham Palace has already responded to the earlier allegation that Charles made the 'forget her soon enough' remark. A palace spokesperson 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 King appeared at a tech summit earlier today, where he spoke to members of the government and thought leaders about how technology can be developed and deployed to benefit society. Charles and Diana had been separated since December 1992, but the divorce was not finalised until August 1996, a year before her death. Tensions were believed to be high between the co-parents, particularly after Diana's famous Martin Bashir interview where she stated the marriage was 'crowded', a reference to Camilla Parker-Bowles, although the palace claimed at the time there was no third party involved in the split.
