Charles Spencer’s Memoir Reopens Questions About King Charles’s Reaction to Diana’s Death
Nearly three decades after the death of Princess Diana, a new memoir by her younger brother, Charles Spencer, is once again focusing attention on the painful days that followed the tragedy. In excerpts from Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer makes a series of personal and highly charged claims about the royal family, including a description of then-Prince Charles’s reaction when the two men spoke by telephone after Diana died in 1997. According to Spencer, Charles sounded “giddily elated” — a phrase that has provoked strong reactions given the circumstances. Buckingham Palace has pushed back, suggesting that grief can affect memory and judgment. The dispute has placed Diana’s legacy, the private relationships within the royal family, and the reliability of memories formed in moments of extreme trauma back under public scrutiny.
Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, has written several books about his family and British history. His latest memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is scheduled for publication on 22 September 2026. The book is presented as a personal account of Diana’s life and the week of her death. Excerpts released in the days before publication have already generated intense media coverage.
One of the most striking claims concerns a telephone conversation Spencer says he had with the then-Prince of Wales shortly after Diana’s fatal car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. Spencer writes that, unlike other callers who were stunned and barely able to speak, Charles “sounded giddily elated — like a lottery winner.” Looking back, Spencer suggests that Charles may have seen Diana’s death as removing an obstacle to marrying Camilla Parker Bowles, with whom he had a long-standing relationship.
In a separate extract, Spencer describes a later, heated argument over funeral arrangements. He says he opposed the idea that Princes William (then 15) and Harry (then 12) should walk behind their mother’s coffin, arguing that Diana would not have wanted them to endure such a public ordeal. According to Spencer, Charles replied: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”
Buckingham Palace has issued an unusually direct response. A spokesman stated that while the Palace does not normally comment on books, “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 statement stops short of a direct denial but clearly questions the reliability of the recollections. The claims arrive at a sensitive moment. The 30th anniversary of Diana’s death will fall in August 2027, and public interest in her life and the events surrounding it remains high. Spencer has said he decided to write the book because he wanted to put his own memories on the record rather than continue reading accounts he considers incomplete or inaccurate.
Swan Song is both a personal tribute and a highly contested piece of family history. Whether Spencer’s recollections are entirely accurate will almost certainly remain a matter of dispute. What is clear is that the publication of these excerpts has reopened old wounds and forced a rare public response from the Palace.
Nearly thirty years after Diana’s death, the competing accounts of that traumatic week continue to shape how the public understands the relationship between the Spencers and the royal family. The full book, due next week, is likely to intensify rather than settle the debate