A new book claims that King Charles told Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, that he and the young Princes William and Harry would 'forget her soon enough' in a heated phone call days after Diana's death.
According to extracts serialised in the Daily Mail, Earl Spencer's memoir 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister' recounts a dispute over the funeral arrangements. Earl Spencer alleges he told the then-Prince Charles that Diana would not have wanted her sons, then aged 15 and 12, to walk publicly behind her coffin.
Earl Spencer's account of the phone call
Earl Spencer recalls telling one of Queen Elizabeth's aides that William and Harry walking in the procession at such a young age was 'not going to happen.' He claims Prince Charles rang him back to remind him that he had walked in the funeral procession of Lord Mountbatten, his great 'uncle Dickie.'
When Spencer countered that Charles was 30 at the time of that funeral, there was a pause on the phone. Earl Spencer writes: 'I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death.'
“Rest assured,” he hissed, “we’ll forget her soon enough.”
Buckingham Palace response
A Buckingham Palace spokesman responded to the claims, saying the King is 'mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason.' The statement reads: '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.'
According to the Daily Mail, Earl Spencer says the book has been written to correct 'untruths' told about his older sister, who died in a Paris car crash in August 1997. The dispute over the funeral procession occurred just days after her death.
