Palace in war of words with Princess Diana's brother who claimed Charles said she'd 'soon be forgotten' days after her death
The royals are facing a day of outings today which they will carry out in the wake of explosive claims by the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales
Explosive claims from a new memoir by the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales have prompted an unprecedented response from the King ahead of an important day of Royal events.
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The King issued an extraordinary statement in response to Earl Spencer's claims about a row he had with then Prince Charles in the days after Diana's death.
Earl Spencer claimed the King told him: "rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough" in an explosive memoir.
However King Charles's aides issued a response that grief can "cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory".
His response echoes Queen Elizabeth's famous response to claims of racism by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2021, when she said that "recollections may vary".
A palace spokesman said: “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 Palace did not issue a statement after the publication of Prince Harry's controversial book Spare - highlighting just how strongly the King feels about Earl Spencer's claims.
Former royal correspondent Peter Hunt said Charles would be 'clearly absolutely incandescent' over the allegations he said Diana would be quickly forgotten.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams described Earl Spencer's allegations as 'destructive' and 'driven by hatred'.
On Thursday, senior royals are set to be seen in public carrying out official engagements after the palace took the rare step of responding to the allegations in the upcoming book.
Charles will address bosses from some of the world’s leading AI developers – Nvidia, Anthropic and OpenAI – about the future of artificial intelligence.
He is expected to tell a summit at Dumfries House in Scotland that the new technology should be in the “service of humanity, community and the natural world”.
Diana’s son William and his wife Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales who also hold the titles of the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, are set to make their first official visit to Isle of Bute.
The day is to include visiting their namesake town of Rothesay and follows their visits to the Isles of Mull and Iona last year.
The Duchess of Edinburgh’s visit to Zambia, to try to celebrate the relationship between Zambia and the UK, is among other royal engagements.
Meanwhile, the Princess Royal will attend the opening of a new History Centre at the German Military Cemetery in Staffordshire.
In the book – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister serialised in the Daily Mail – the Earl claims that Charles, then the Prince of Wales, subjected him to a “stream of anger” after he insisted Diana would not have wanted Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk in her funeral procession.
According to a book excerpt, one of Queen Elizabeth II’s senior aides told him that William and Harry were to walk in the procession, prompting the Earl to state “that’s not going to happen”.
Charles called minutes later and told him that 18 years earlier he had walked in the funeral procession of his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, it is claimed.
In the book, the Earl claims: “Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting. Then he stopped.
“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!’.”