King 'giddily elated like a lottery winner' after Diana died, Earl Spencer's memoir claims
The Earl spoke of how Charles’s phone call following the car crash in 1997 “all sounded strangely matter-of-fact”
The King sounded “giddily elated… like a lottery winner” when he rang the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, following her death, Earl Spencer’s new memoir claims.
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In excerpts from his new book – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – the Earl spoke of how Charles’s phone call following the car crash in 1997 “all sounded strangely matter-of-fact”.
One passage read: “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.
“He let me know he had informed William and Harry of their mother’s death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral.
“It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.
Read more: Royals come out swinging! Business as usual for Charles, William and Kate amid Diana book row
Read more: What has been claimed by Charles Spencer in his book?
“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.”
Commenting on the excerpts serialised in the Daily Mail on Wednesday, the palace hit back at claims in the memoir with a short statement, saying “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.
Then, in response to new revelations on Thursday, the Palace wrote simply: "We have nothing further to add to our statement from yesterday."
Charles, William and Kate carried out royal engagements as normal today after they became embroiled in a war of words with Diana's brother over bombshell claims in his new memoir.
The public events in Scotland came hours after Buckingham Palace issued an extraordinary statement in response to claims the then-Prince Charles said “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough” during an explosive row over Diana’s funeral.
However, a spokesman for the King hit back at the comments in the Earl's forthcoming book, saying: “The pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory.”
The stinging comments were seen as an echo of the late Queen Elizabeth II's famous 'recollections may vary' retort to Prince Harry and Meghan.
In other passages of the book, Earl Spencer spoke of how his sister drove “more than once” to the cliffs at Beachy Head in East Sussex and was “contemplating ending it all”, adding that “her love for her sons stopped her from going further”.
The excerpt later goes on to claim that Diana told her brother “my husband is in love with his valet” after telling him she was going to get divorced.
The book reads: “It is a sad fact that, in her later years, Diana drove herself more than once to Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in England, while contemplating ending it all.
“Her love for her sons stopped her from going further.
“One day Diana asked me at very short notice to join her for lunch at San Lorenzo, her favourite London restaurant.
“She looked down at the table and said, ‘Carlos, I’m going to get divorced.’
“I was silent for a moment. I had known things were bad, but not this bad.
"‘Well, Duch,’ I carefully replied, ‘you of course have my full support… I know you’ll have thought this through.
“‘But my main worry is the public. I fear they won’t forgive you. They’ve bought into a fairytale, and I reckon they may well – wrongly – blame you for destroying their fantasy.’
“She looked up at me, nodded, and said quietly: ‘But, Carlos, my husband is in love with his valet.’“I gulped. ‘Well, I guess, in that case, you really don’t have a choice’.”
Charles, 77, appeared in good spirits at a meeting with AI leaders on Thursday.
Addressing the bosses of Nvidia, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and OpenAI, the King said: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I suppose we might readily agree that the development of AI – its substance and its pace – are both intriguing and deeply concerning in equal measure.
“AI is already showing its immense capacity to improve and save life – for example, in the field of life sciences and medicine.
He added: "Yet those who have created these technologies are now increasingly warning that AI risks developing darker capacities – perhaps even to take life.
"In this regard, if I may say so, there seems urgency in adequately considering the existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands, and being used in potentially catastrophic ways. Surely, we need sufficient means of control before it is all too late?
“Those in our world who value deeply our humanity and its vital moral component are anxiously seeking your reassurance that we will not lose control of our destiny, or our souls…”