Earl Spencer’s New Book Claims King Charles Said Diana Would Be ‘Forgotten Soon Enough’ After Her Death

LONDON — Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, has alleged in a forthcoming memoir that King Charles III made a dismissive remark about his former wife’s memory in the days immediately following her fatal car crash in 1997, a claim Buckingham Palace has responded to without directly disputing.

The allegation appears in Spencer’s book, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” scheduled for publication September 22 by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House, ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death next year. According to excerpts published by the Daily Mail and reported by CBS News, Spencer writes that he objected to a plan for Diana’s young sons, Princes William and Harry, then 15 and 12, to walk behind their mother’s coffin during her funeral procession. Spencer says the then-Prince Charles responded to his objection by questioning the family’s sense of duty, telling him over the phone: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”

According to the fuller account of the exchange recorded in the memoir, Charles’s reaction reflected what Spencer described as long-suppressed feelings toward his former wife. The book recounts that the suggestion “allegedly angered the prince, who ‘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.’” Spencer writes that Charles then “hissed” the line about forgetting her, and the author has separately accused the king of harboring “contempt” for Diana throughout their account of the period surrounding her death.

Despite Spencer’s objection, William and Harry ultimately did walk in the funeral procession, producing images of the two young princes trailing their mother’s coffin through central London that have remained among the most enduring photographs of the period.

Buckingham Palace addressed the allegation in a statement without directly denying that the remark was made. “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 said.

Royal Editor Roya Nikkhah of The Sunday Times said the claims are likely to be the first of several sensitive disclosures as excerpts from the memoir continue rolling out ahead of publication. Nikkhah said the royal family faces “a very tricky few days,” predicting the initial claims about Charles’s reaction to Diana’s death would be “just the beginning of a serialization that will go on … and we know there are going to be some pretty sensational claims” in the lead-up to the book’s release. She added that the palace would now need to weigh how to respond to each individual claim as they surface, saying the situation had put “Buckingham Palace into reactive mode.”

“Swan Song: Diana, My Sister” is being translated into twelve languages and covers a broad span of the siblings’ shared history, including their childhood at the Spencer family’s Althorp estate, their parents’ divorce, Diana’s rise to global prominence following her marriage to Charles, her humanitarian work, and the intense media scrutiny that defined much of her adult life. Spencer has said he was ultimately persuaded to write down his own recollections directly, rather than continuing to have his family’s story told primarily through the accounts of others.

The book’s release comes at a sensitive moment for the royal family more broadly, arriving shortly after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle relocated back to the United Kingdom in late August following roughly six years based in the United States. Harry has continued to maintain a limited, strained relationship with his father and brother since stepping back from royal duties in 2020, and the timing of his uncle’s memoir, arriving so soon after his return to Britain, has drawn additional attention to the broader state of relations within the family.

Separately, Harry and Meghan have also navigated a more immediate, practical challenge in recent weeks tied to their children’s education. Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, were withdrawn from their initial school in England after only a few days, following what a spokesperson for the couple described as security concerns raised by their protection team. “The parents remain extremely grateful to all the teachers and staff for the love, care and effort they have shown their family,” the spokesperson said. “This decision should in no way be interpreted as a reflection on the school or the exceptional care the children have received there.” The spokesperson said the decision followed “a discussion with the family’s security team about the practicalities of their current arrangements,” with reports indicating the original school’s location created difficulties for the family’s security convoy amid heavy local traffic.

Harry has continued to carry out public engagements since returning to Britain, appearing this week at the inaugural Invictus Spirit Gala Dinner and Awards at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, part of continued preparations tied to the Invictus Games, the sporting competition for wounded and injured service members that he founded, with the next edition scheduled for Birmingham in 2027.

With Spencer’s memoir still more than a week from its official release and further excerpts expected to continue emerging in the British press, the royal family’s response to the book’s claims, and any further detail the memoir provides about the days surrounding Diana’s death, is likely to remain a closely watched story in the run-up to its September 22 publication date.