King Charles ‘giddily elated’ after Diana’s death: 10 explosive claims in brother Charles Spencer’s book

Nearly three decades after Princess Diana’s death, her younger brother Charles Spencer has reopened some of the most painful chapters in the history of the British royal family.

Spencer’s memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, was published on Tuesday, September 22, nearly 30 years after Diana died in a Paris car crash. The book presents her life and death from the perspective of her brother, who delivered the celebrated eulogy at her 1997 funeral.

The book has already triggered an unusually sharp response from Buckingham Palace. In a statement issued after excerpts appeared, the Palace said King Charles was mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory many years after a loss.

A store worker arranges a display of Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer’s book “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister” at Waterstones bookshop in London, Britain, September 22, 2026. (REUTERS)

Spencer has rejected the suggestion that his recollections are unreliable, saying he is telling the truth, The Guardian reported.

Here are 10 of the most striking claims and revelations in the memoir:

1. ‘We’ll forget her soon enough’

The most explosive allegation, as reported by The Guardian, concerns a phone call between Spencer and the then-Prince Charles in the days before Diana’s funeral. Spencer says he objected to Princes William and Harry, then 15 and 12, walking behind their mother’s coffin. He argued that Diana would not have wanted her sons to undergo such a public ordeal.

According to Spencer, Charles became furious during a subsequent telephone conversation and criticised the Spencer family’s sense of duty.

He then allegedly said, “We’ll forget her soon enough.” Spencer says he was so stunned that he ended the call.”

Story continues below this ad

Spencer has since insisted that those were “exactly the words” Charles used and said he told friends and family about the conversation at the time, The Guardian reported.

The Palace has not offered a detailed alternative account of the conversation. Its response instead questioned whether grief and the passage of time could have affected Spencer’s recollection, the report added.

.

Royals · September 21, 2026

Diana, Charles & Spencer: what happened — and what is being claimed now

Illustration: Buckingham Palace, London

Charles Spencer’s memoir publishes on Tuesday. Everything claimed below comes from excerpts released so far and from his interviews. The palace disputes his account.

1

What happened

2

What is claimed

3

Who is Spencer

Start here

Diana’s final years, 1981–1997

July 1981

Diana, 20, marries Prince Charles

1982 and 1984

William, then Harry, are born

Early 1990s

The marriage breaks down under intense media scrutiny

The couple announce their separation in December 1992.

November 1995

Diana gives her BBC Panorama interview

August 1996

The divorce is finalised

Diana loses the style “Her Royal Highness”.

August 1997

Diana travels to Paris

August 31, 1997

Diana dies in a car crash in Paris, aged 36

September 1997

Her funeral, and her brother’s eulogy

William, 15, and Harry, 12, walk behind the coffin.

September 22, 2026

Spencer publishes “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister”

Two accounts

What Spencer says, and what the palace says

Spencer’s account

After her death

Charles sounded “giddily elated — like a lottery winner”

The funeral row

“Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”

What Spencer says Charles told him.

The walk behind the coffin

He says he opposed William and Harry walking behind it, and that Prince Philip overruled Charles on the procession.

The HRH title

He says the Queen offered to restore Diana’s title on the day of the funeral, and he declined it as a “consolation prize”.

Before the wedding

He says Diana asked their father to let her call it off, and he refused.

Relies on what Diana told a friend

Her mental health

He recounts Diana’s struggles with suicidal thoughts early in the marriage.

Palace response

Statement, September 16

“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.”

A rare and unusually direct response, issued to the funeral excerpt.

To the later excerpts

“We have nothing further to add.”

So the “giddily elated” claim has had no specific response.

Worth knowing

Diana herself said, in tapes recorded for a 1992 biography, that she had wanted to call the wedding off — though she credited her sisters with talking her round, not her father.

Spencer’s reply to the palace

“It’s not every day you’re gaslit by a king.”

He told ABC News he stands by his account, and told the BBC he had only ever had two phone calls with Charles and was “hyper alert” to what was said.

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. In India, call Tele-MANAS on 14416, free and around the clock.

Charles Spencer

9th Earl Spencer

Who

Diana’s younger brother

Born

May 20, 1964 — now 62

Work

Historian and author; former NBC News correspondent

Studied

Oxford

Estate

Inherited Althorp, where Diana is buried

1997

Delivered the eulogy at Diana’s funeral

2026

Author of “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister”

His connection to the royals

Diana’s brother

→

Uncle of William & Harry

→

Godson of Queen Elizabeth II

Sources: ABC News; NBC News; CNN; LBC; The Week; Reuters. Claims are from excerpts of the memoir and Spencer’s interviews, and are his account.

.

2. Charles allegedly sounded ‘giddily elated’ after Diana’s death

Spencer also recalls speaking to Charles shortly after Diana died in Paris on August 31, 1997.

He says that while other people who called him sounded shocked and struggled to express themselves, Charles sounded “giddily elated — like a lottery winner”, The Washington Post reported.

Story continues below this ad

Spencer goes further, saying he suspected Charles may have been thinking about how Diana’s death could free him to marry Camilla, the woman he loved.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana: Watched by millions worldwide, this royal wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral became one of the most iconic televised events ever. (File)

But he acknowledges that this was “his interpretation”, not something he knew Charles was thinking. In his BBC interview, Spencer said he could not be certain of Charles’s thoughts and was drawing an inference from the tone of the conversation, news agency Reuters reported.

3. Spencer tried to stop William and Harry walking behind Diana’s coffin

He claims that he was informed by a senior palace aide that William and Harry would walk behind their mother’s coffin. Spencer objected immediately, saying Diana would never have wanted her young sons to participate in such a traumatic spectacle, reported The Guardian.

Remembering a true Queen, 29 years after her passing. 🕊️👑 Diana was taken far too soon, leaving behind two young boys who lost their precious mother. Her legacy, kindness and compassion continue to live on. Forever remembered, forever loved. ❤️. #Diana pic.twitter.com/uqGXW8zV2a — Gloria Sussex Arsenal (@GloGoonerette) August 31, 2026

Charles, according to Spencer, defended the decision by referring to his own experience of walking behind the coffin of Lord Mountbatten.

Story continues below this ad

Spencer responded that Charles had been an adult when Mountbatten died, whereas William and Harry were children mourning their mother.

The two princes ultimately walked behind Diana’s coffin during the funeral procession. William has subsequently described the experience as extremely difficult.

4. Spencer says Diana worried Charles did not love her before their wedding

The memoir also goes back to the beginning of Charles and Diana’s marriage. Spencer claims Diana told their father, shortly before the 1981 wedding, that she could not go through with marrying a man who did not love her.

He recalls seeing his sister distressed before the wedding after Charles allegedly told her that he was “very happy” to marry her but was not actually in love with her.

Story continues below this ad

Charles and Diana married at St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981. Their relationship deteriorated over the following decade; they separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.

5. Spencer writes that Diana struggled deeply and contemplated suicide

One of the memoir’s more serious revelations concerns Diana’s mental health. Spencer writes that during some of her unhappiest periods, Diana experienced explosive emotional outbursts. He also claims she drove herself to Beachy Head, a high chalk cliff in southern England, while contemplating ending her life.

According to Spencer, her love for William and Harry stopped her from acting on those thoughts.

Because this is a retrospective account of Diana’s private mental state, it should be attributed specifically to Spencer rather than presented as an independently established clinical account.

Story continues below this ad

6. Spencer says Harry received too little care after Diana’s death

Spencer recalls seeing 12-year-old Harry after Diana’s funeral and describes him as “tiny, and slight, and bereft.” He argues that Harry needed calm and emotional support following his mother’s death but believes he did not receive enough of it.

The memoir portrays Spencer as particularly concerned about his younger nephew and what the loss might mean for him in later life, news agency Associated Press reported.

Spencer has also drawn a connection between the media treatment of Diana and the later treatment of Harry and Meghan, saying he sees “echoes” of what happened to his sister.

7. Queen Elizabeth allegedly offered to restore Diana’s HRH title after her death

Spencer recounts an extraordinary conversation following Diana’s funeral. He says Queen Elizabeth II’s private secretary, Robert Fellowes, approached him while the family was travelling back to Althorp, Diana’s final resting place.

Story continues below this ad

Spencer says Fellowes told him that the Queen wanted to offer Diana her “Her Royal Highness (HRH)” title back posthumously.

Diana had lost the HRH style after her 1996 divorce from Charles, although she retained the title Princess of Wales.

Spencer says he rejected the offer because he regarded it as meaningless after Diana’s death. He later questioned whether he should have accepted it for William and Harry, the People reported.

8. Spencer says Diana suspected Charles had met Camilla on the Royal Train

The memoir revisits an episode from 1980, before Charles and Diana married. A newspaper had reported that a blonde woman had secretly joined Charles aboard the Royal Train. The report caused controversy, and Buckingham Palace denied that Diana was the woman involved.

Story continues below this ad

Spencer writes that Diana later became convinced that the woman could have been Camilla Parker Bowles, partly because of the location of the alleged meeting and the proximity to Camilla’s home.

9. Spencer says Diana was groped by Mohamed Al-Fayed

The memoir also contains an allegation concerning Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed, who was with Diana when she died. Spencer claims Diana told him that Al-Fayed had sexually touched her and made a crude remark during her relationship with Dodi, the Daily Mail reported.

Spencer writes, “She (Diana) told me with revulsion how, early in her romance with Dodi, Mohamed had come up to her, dropped a hand onto her buttocks and squeezed them while saying in a leery, suggestive tone, ‘And in Egypt, father-in-law gets first go…’”

The claim appears against the wider backdrop of allegations of sexual misconduct against Al-Fayed that emerged publicly years later.

10. Spencer says Diana was badly affected by the press

The memoir repeatedly returns to the role of the media in Diana’s life. Spencer portrays his sister as someone who became increasingly exposed to intense press scrutiny as her marriage broke down and her fame grew.

He also recalls taking steps to keep newspaper editors away from Diana’s funeral because of his anger over the treatment she had received from the press.

Spencer has subsequently drawn parallels between Diana’s experience and the media scrutiny faced by Harry and Meghan, telling the BBC that Diana had been “really brought low” by criticism and that he sees echoes of that treatment today.

(With inputs from agencies)