'Not a surprise to them': Harry and William know about King's comments after Diana's death, Earl Spencer claims
Spencer said that his claims about Charles being "giddy" following his ex-wife's death and then saying "she'd be forgotten soon enough" would not be a surprise to the princes
Earl Spencer has suggested that Harry and William were already aware of the bombshell allegations he made against their father, King Charles, in the new memoir of Princess Diana.
Listen to this article
In an interview to promote Swan Song, a memoir of his late sister, Diana's brother said: "I don't like to talk about what I've been speaking about to William and Harry, but this will not be a surprise to them.
"Palace in war of words with Princess Diana's brother who claimed Charles said she'd 'soon be forgotten' days after her deathI will tell you that these words will not be a surprise to them."
The earl has made a series of claims about the King in a new memoir chronicling the life of his sister Diana that prompted the response from Buckingham Palace, which said “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.
Speaking about an alleged row over Diana’s funeral arrangements involving her sons, the earl said: “(The King) went ballistic, would be the right term, and started really going for my family as a whole, about their sense of duty, not being adequate enough, and ranted for a while, I have no idea how long, but it was a significant period, and I just listened.
“And then he stopped, and I thought, ‘Oh now he’s going to pull himself together and say something more appropriate’.
“And then he said, ‘We’ll forget her soon enough’.”
Charles is said to have made the comments about his ex-wife in a row with the earl over whether Prince William and Prince Harry should follow Diana’s funeral cortege.
William and Harry are said not to have been aware of the contents of Earl Spencer's forthcoming memoir about his sister, which includes the King's reported comments.
On his motivations for writing the book, the earl said it was his “duty… as an eyewitness to history”.
It comes after the earl accused the King of gaslighting him after Buckingham Palace pushed back against explosive claims that Charles said “we’ll forget her soon enough” after Diana, Princess of Wales, died.
Read More: Earl Spencer says ‘cancerous’ public treatment of Sussexes ‘echoes’ Diana
He said: “I’m aware of mortality and I wanted to just put things down once and for all that were true.
“This is not a threat, it’s a fact, I know lots of things about the King which I chose not to include in the book because they were not relevant.”
The earl accused the King of gaslighting him and called the palace’s response a “rather poor imitation of the ‘recollections may vary’ quote” – the late Queen’s response to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s allegations in their Oprah Winfrey interview, The Mail on Sunday reports.
He said: “It is not every day you wake up to find you’ve been gaslit by the King.
“It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I’d lied without the King being able to deny what I’d said.
“I also thought it was a rather poor imitation of the ‘recollections may vary’ quote, which was a much more elegant way of putting things, but in these circumstances entirely out of place.”
In response to the claims made in the memoir, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said on Wednesday: “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.”
On what William and Harry might think of the comments being brought up, the earl added the words “will not be a surprise”.
In another extract from the interview, the earl said the relationship between the press and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “echoes” the way the media treated his sister.
The earl, who was in South Africa when his sister died, detailed he was initially told “it’s not too serious”, and after a number of calls, his sister Jane told him “I’m afraid she’s died”.
Meanwhile, the earl said he considers Swan Song: Diana, My Sister to be his final take on the situation.
He said: “I’m not here to bang on about Diana, this is my final word, celebration of her, and I will step off into the sunset now and not be available for comment.”
Asked if he supports this monarchy, the earl said “I do”.
Put to him that he has a funny way of showing it, he said: “Well, I’m not dealing with King Charles as monarch in this book.
“This is all 30-odd years ago, and what was said and done then.”
The earl became emotional as he said he misses his sister “every day”, adding: “That’s the thing with sibling loss, you never get over it.”