Does anyone seriously believe King Charles, a man whom countless people have described over the years as being seriously affected by Princess Diana’s death, regardless of their disaster of a marriage, would say such “monstrous” words?
The pointed language used by Earl Spencer is so outlandish and hyperbolic that even the most committed Republicans would struggle to get on board. But this war of words, which is already spiralling wildly out of control, endangers the very fabric of the monarchy.
And all in the week that Prince Harry has turned up to cosplay being a royal, with 48 hours of public engagements as he strives to rehabilitate his own image now he’s parked up in Britain once again.
Forget the notion of “your truth” – ridiculously peddled by Oprah Winfrey following her interview with Harry and Meghan after their explosive exit from royal life – there is only one truth here. Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer has abandoned his self-imposed shackles from publicly talking about his sister’s experiences within the royal family – all in good time to publicise his book and cash in ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death.
How convenient then that he has suddenly lifted the lid on private conversations with the then Prince Charles, where he allegedly “sounded giddily elated” upon the tragic news of the death of the mother of his children. Spencer knows the framing around it has the potential to inflict the most damage.
Claiming Charles’s “pent-up contempt” for his former wife, and adding that the King sounded almost gleeful – comparing his tone to that of “a lottery winner” – at the very moment the nation was collapsing into grief, is simply staggering. Spencer has laid down the gauntlet to the King his own version of “recollections may vary” is anything but a rebuttal of his version of events.
These aren’t simply unflattering anecdotes about a phone call 30 years ago, they are a direct challenge to the version of events the monarchy has quietly relied on for years – that Charles was a grieving father doing his best amid impossible pressure, not a man irritated by his ex-wife’s popularity.
If the public believes Spencer over the Palace, it doesn’t just tarnish a moment in history; it corrodes the trust that underpins the King’s own reign, at a time when Charles is already contending with health concerns and a slimmed-down, ageing monarchy, and how he will respond to his estranged son’s homecoming.
For an institution that survives on the idea of quiet dignity and closing ranks, those days are over. What happens next will be for the King to decide.
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