‘We’ll forget Diana soon enough’: Is the Palace in panic mode over new King Charles claims?
A new book by Earl Charles Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, claims King Charles said his ex-wife would be soon forgotten after her death. Is the Palace in panic mode?
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What’s the story?
Almost 30 years after Princess Diana's death, the former Royal is still remembered fondly by the British public, even some who don't care much for the monarchy.
But a new book, written by her brother Earl Spencer, claims that following the Paris car crash which claimed Diana's life, King Charles (then the Prince of Wales) told him "we'll forget her soon enough".
A statement from the Palace neither confirms or denies this claim, but suggests the Royal Family feels strongly enough about it to make a rare response to a public allegation against it.
"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 statement says.
Unnamed sources have told Royal-supporting newspapers that King Charles was "paralysed with grief" at the time.
“On the surface, the statement sounds almost affectionate,” says Emily Maitlis.
“It sounds like the Palace is worried about somebody who's in the depths of their grief.
“But what Charles here is trying, masterfully I think, to do is shut down this whole episode and, and also remind us that this man is still in profound fraternal grief, 30 years later.”
Spencer also claims he objected to the young princes William and Harry being made to walk alongside Diana's coffin during her funeral procession.
Could King Charles really have said people would “forget her soon”?
When Diana died, the UK was in the “heat of despair” and “gripped by madness” – the Royal Family included.
But would Charles, a man so stiff with tradition, really say what Earl Spencer claims?
“We have seen that the King has got a temper, and there have been plenty of accounts where he has been petulant,” Jon Sopel says.
“But when Princess Diana died, the tensions were extraordinary in this country. Britain went mad for two or three weeks. We were all grieving.
“So it is possible a conversation took place with Charles, who had to go to Paris to bring the body back to London, where he lost his rag at a moment in a conversation. But it's just one person's word against another.”
Earl Spencer's hopes for Princes William and Harry
During Diana's funeral in 1997, Spencer gave a eulogy in which he wished William and Harry lives that were not simply "immersed in duty and tradition" and that they could "sing openly" as their mother had planned.
This, Jon Sopel says, was Spencer's first "shot across the bough" of the Royal Family.
Maitlis says there was always a clear distance between Charles and Diana during their marriage.
"Him "erudite, bookish and clearly wedded to tradition", while she was the woman sneaking out of the palace at night to visit homeless people and people with AIDS," she says.
This divide can now be seen between their children, William and Harry.
"If you look at the division now between the boys, you've essentially got that same pull," Maitlis adds.
"How much of you has to remain rooted in protocol, tradition and saying and wearing the right things, and how much of you runs off to Oprah and spills your heart out.
"This Diana / Charles thing is still very present."
She adds a Royal source has told her King Charles is "very upset" by Spencer's claims.
"He thinks that Earl Spencer is trying to sell books, but I think he also realises that some people will hear this and probably think it could have happened, that it doesn't sound impossible."
Is Earl Spencer a man full of ‘rage and fury’?
Spencer’s book is being serialised in the UK tabloids, and The News Agents believe his claim about King Charles will be only the first unearthed by the press.
They say the Palace statement was likely issued to get ahead of coming revelations.
“What is so unusual is that the normal mantra of the Royal Family is to never complain, and never explain,” says Jon.
“If Royals dignify everything that is ever written in a newspaper about them, they will never be doing anything other than issuing statements or rebuttals.”
He describes Charles Spencer as a man full of "rage and fury", directed at the Royals, and that rage will now be serialised in the tabloid press over the coming days.
“I was speaking to someone last night who's close to the leading figures of the Royal Family, who said he is 'a vile man',” Jon adds.
“I think they just wanted to get their defence out quickly and powerfully, which is what they've done.”