Buckingham Palace denies Earl Spencer's claim King said Diana 'would soon be forgotten'
September 17, 2026 at 09:57 AM · Updated 29d ago
Coverage
7 reports · 2 in Arabic, 5 in English · over 20 hours
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(opens the publisher’s site)"ستُنسى قريبا".. تعليق ملكي على أقول منسوبة لتشارلز عن ديانا
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(opens the publisher’s site)Buckingham Palace has denied claims in Earl Spencer's upcoming memoir that King Charles said Diana "will soon be forgotten" days after her 1997 death.
- Earl Spencer's memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, claims the then-Prince of Wales told him "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough" during a phone call over funeral arrangements.
- Spencer writes that Charles unleashed "pent-up contempt for Diana" after he insisted Princes William and Harry, then 15 and 12, should not walk in the funeral procession.
- Buckingham Palace said the King is "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory" in a statement issued Wednesday.
- Excerpts from the book, to be published next week, appeared in the Daily Mail on Wednesday.
- Former palace communications secretary Julian Payne backed the King's denial, saying the personal nature of the claim warranted a response.
- In further extracts, Spencer claims Charles sounded 'giddily elated – like a lottery winner' in a phone call after Diana's death.
- Spencer alleges some palace officials were 'relieved' at Diana's death and pushed for the princes to walk behind her coffin to shield Charles from public abuse.
- In further extracts, Spencer alleges Charles's first reaction to Diana's death was to think of marrying Camilla rather than grieve.