Buckingham Palace has hit back at claims made in an upcoming bombshell memoir written by Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer, stating that “grief can cloud reason”.
The book, which is set to be serialised in the Daily Mail, alleges that in the days after Diana’s death, King Charles had said “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”.
Charles, who was Prince of Wales at the time, made the apparent remarks to Earl Spencer during a major dispute over funeral arrangements after Diana died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.
The dispute was over the decision to have Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, walk in their mother’s funeral procession, a decision that has since been the subject of widespread public debate.
Earl Spencer claims, in his memoir titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, that he told Charles over the phone that Diana would not have wanted her sons to join the procession.
Charles afterwards remarked, allegedly in a “stream of anger”, that his ex-wife would soon be forgotten.
“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!’” the memoir claims.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told The Independent: “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 Independent has not seen Earl Spencer’s memoir detailing the allegations.
The book is likely to be highly critical of the royal family, and comes during a painful period marked by several scandals and family disputes.
The Daily Mail says the book will include a “string of further extraordinary claims about Diana’s failed marriage to King Charles and the tumultuous aftermath of her tragic death in a car crash in Paris in 1997”.
During her funeral, Spencer delivered a televised eulogy at Westminster Abbey, pledging the princess’ “blood family” would protect William and Harry “so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as you planned”.
Diana’s death caused an outpouring of grief across the world and especially in the UK, where she was a very popular figure.
But her death exposed a rift between the royal family and the British public who were angry at the royals’ reserved response, which failed to match the grief of the rest of the nation.
Prince William and Prince Harry have spoken out about the day of their mother’s funeral.
The latter recently said, while speaking to royal biographer Angela Levin for her book ‘Harry: Conversations with the Prince’: “I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.
“No child should lose their mother at such a young age and then have his grief observed by thousands of people.”
Prince William said in a 2017 BBC documentary called Diana 7 Days that he felt “completely numb, disorientated, dizzy”.
The claims in Earl Spencer’s book has come ahead of Harry’s first public engagements since moving back to the UK in August.
The Duke of Sussex is set to attend the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards and the launch of the Invictus education programme INSPIRE, as well as taking part in one of his favourite annual occasions, the WellChild Awards.
It is understood that this summer, he and his wife Meghan, as well as their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, visited Earl Spencer at his home at Althorp House in Northamptonshire.
Diana, who was raised at the Grade I listed property which has been a home to the Spencer family for over 500 years, is buried within the grounds.