Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, has reignited longstanding tensions within the royal family with a series of new claims in his upcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, set for release on Tuesday. The book includes allegations that Prince Charles made disparaging remarks about Diana shortly after her death in 1997 and recounts past conflicts between the two men.
Earl Spencer claims Prince Charles said Diana would be ‘forgotten soon enough’ after her death, describing the comment as delivered with a ‘hiss.’ He also alleges that Charles, then Prince of Wales, behaved ‘like a petulant child’ during a conversation at the time of their father’s funeral in 1992, stamping his foot and complaining about being treated as a child by his parents. Spencer further asserts that Diana told him Mohamed Al Fayed had ‘squeezed her buttocks’ early in her relationship with his son, Dodi Fayed.
New Allegations Against Prince Charles
Earl Spencer’s memoir includes a secondhand account of a conversation he says he had with Prince Charles days after Diana’s death in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997. According to Spencer, Charles remarked, ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.’ Spencer described the tone as dismissive, stating he responded, ‘I can’t believe you said that.’ Buckingham Palace has not directly addressed the claim but issued a statement noting that ‘the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason.’
Separately, Spencer recounts an exchange from April 1992, the day of their father’s funeral. He writes that Charles, then 43, told him during a gathering at Althorp, the Spencer family estate, ‘You’re so lucky—inheriting when you’re so young!’ Spencer describes Charles as stamping his foot and complaining that his parents treated him ‘like a child.’ The memoir includes Spencer’s emotional account of seeing his father’s coffin carried by longtime staff, followed by Charles’s remarks.
Claims About Mohamed Al Fayed and Diana’s Relationship
In addition to the allegations against Charles, Earl Spencer’s book includes a claim that Diana told him Mohamed Al Fayed had ‘dropped a hand onto her buttocks and squeezed them’ early in her relationship with Dodi Fayed. Spencer states that Diana ‘disliked’ Al Fayed, a claim that has drawn renewed attention amid ongoing allegations against Al Fayed. A BBC documentary in 2022 detailed claims of sexual misconduct against Al Fayed, including allegations dating from 1977 to 2014. The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it is handling 159 direct victim contacts related to these allegations.
Spencer also reflects on his decision to omit Dodi Fayed’s name from his eulogy at Diana’s funeral. He writes that he initially included a nod to Fayed in a draft, thanking him for making Diana happy in her final weeks, but removed the reference before delivery. Spencer now states he regrets the omission, acknowledging Fayed’s kindness to Diana while suggesting her relationship with him may have been motivated by a desire to provoke jealousy in another suitor.
Royal Family Responds to Memoir Claims
Buckingham Palace has pushed back on Earl Spencer’s claims, stating that grief can affect judgment and memory. A spokesperson did not directly deny the remarks attributed to Charles but framed them as a possible distortion caused by sorrow. Friends of King Charles III have described Spencer’s memoir as ‘picking at the scars of the past,’ with one calling his motivations ‘as convincing as an arsonist selling a fire hose.’ The King was hosting an AI summit in Scotland when the allegations surfaced, with aides noting his focus on broader issues.
Spencer, who has previously been critical of the royal family, states his goal in writing the memoir is to ‘tell the truth about Diana.’ He acknowledges that Diana’s life and death have remained a subject of public fascination nearly 30 years later, with his book positioned as the ‘definitive’ account from his perspective. The memoir is expected to become a bestseller, continuing the decades-long debate over Diana’s legacy and the circumstances surrounding her life and death.