Buckingham Palace Responds to Claims About King Charles and Princess Diana’s Death

Buckingham Palace has responded to claims by Charles Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana, about comments allegedly made by King Charles III in the days following her death nearly three decades ago.

The palace issued an unusually direct statement after Spencer alleged in his forthcoming memoir that Charles, then Prince of Wales and Diana’s former husband, told him shortly after her death: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”

“While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle,” a palace spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The spokesperson added that the King was aware that grief between siblings could affect judgment and memory many years after a loss.

“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 spokesperson said.

Spencer’s memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is due to be published next week. Extracts from the book have been serialised by the Daily Mail.

In the memoir, Spencer describes a dispute with Charles over whether Diana’s two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, should walk behind their mother’s coffin during her funeral procession. William was 15 and Harry was 12 when their mother died.

Spencer writes that Charles reacted angrily after he argued that Diana would not have wanted her sons to take part in the procession. He alleges that Charles expressed strong feelings about Diana and public reaction to her death before making the comment about her eventually being forgotten.

The claims have not been independently established, and Buckingham Palace has not directly addressed the alleged wording attributed to the King.

Diana died in Paris in August 1997 at the age of 36 after the car carrying her and others crashed while being pursued by paparazzi photographers. Her death triggered widespread mourning in Britain and around the world.

The circumstances surrounding her death also prompted renewed debate about the relationship between the British monarchy and the public. The royal family’s response to Diana’s death attracted criticism from some sections of the British media and public, particularly over the perceived lack of visible emotion from the monarchy.

The palace’s latest wording has drawn comparisons in UK media with a statement issued by Queen Elizabeth II in 2021 following allegations of racism made by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

At the time, the Queen said that “some recollections may vary” after the couple’s televised interview.

Spencer’s memoir is expected to provide his personal account of Diana’s life, death and the events surrounding the aftermath of her death, almost 30 years after the crash that ended the princess’s life.