King Charles allegedly expressed “horror” at the overwhelming public grief following Princess Diana’s death, according to a new memoir by her brother Charles Spencer. The Earl of Spencer also claims the then Prince of Wales made a startling remark days before Diana’s funeral, during an argument over whether her young sons should walk behind her coffin.
Charles Spencer’s bombshell Princess Diana memoir alleged King Charles’ chilling statement
The alleged exchange appears in “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” Charles Spencer’s memoir about his older sister and the events surrounding her death. Spencer wrote that the dispute began after he learned that Prince William and Prince Harry would join Diana’s funeral procession.
The brothers were just 15 and 12 years old at the time. Spencer says he strongly opposed the decision. He believed Diana would not have wanted her young sons to face such an intense public ordeal while grieving their mother, as reported by the Daily Mail.
According to the memoir, he responded: “That’s not going to happen.” Spencer says the situation escalated when Charles called him. The then Prince of Wales reportedly argued that he had also walked behind the coffin of Lord Mountbatten, his great-uncle, when Mountbatten died in 1979.
Spencer, however, pointed out that Charles had been 30 years old at the time. William and Harry were children when their mother died. According to Spencer, that response enraged Charles, who allegedly “went nuts” during the conversation.
Spencer alleges that Charles eventually stopped speaking for a moment before making what he interpreted as a revealing comment about Diana and the public reaction to her death. He claims the then Prince of Wales expressed “his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death.” Spencer then claims that Charles told him: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!”
The Earl said he was stunned by the remark and needed several seconds before responding. He claims he told Charles, “I can’t believe you just said that,” before ending the call.
