Palace hits back at claims King said Diana would be forgotten ‘soon enough’
Buckingham Palace has hit back at claims made by Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, in a new book, with a spokesperson saying “fraternal grief can cloud reason”.
It is alleged that just days after Diana’s death in 1997, Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales, told her brother “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough” during a discussion about arrangements for the funeral in which Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, walked behind their mother’s coffin.
In response to the claims, made in a memoir of Diana’s brother Earl Spencer which is being serialised in the Daily Mail, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said Charles is “mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.
The statement reads: “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.”
Charles is said to have made the comments about his ex-wife in a row over funeral preparations and to have questioned the Spencer family’s sense of duty.
The Earl says he insisted to the then Prince of Wales that Diana would not have wanted her young sons to have made the difficult public walk, it is claimed.
According to the newspaper, Earl Spencer says the book – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – has been written to correct “untruths” told about his older sister, who died in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
According to a book excerpt, one of Queen Elizabeth II’s senior aides told him that William and Harry were to walk in the procession, prompting the Earl to state “that’s not going to happen”.
Charles called minutes later and told him that 18 years earlier he had walked in the funeral procession of his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, it is claimed.
The Earl pointed out that Charles had been 30 at the time of Lord Mountbatten’s funeral in 1979.
In an book excerpt, the Earl claims: “Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting. Then he stopped.
“I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. ‘Rest assured’, he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!’”
The Earl says he then hung up the phone.
William, Harry, Charles, Prince Philip and the Earl walked behind Diana’s coffin in a funeral procession through central London to the funeral service at Westminster Abbey.
The Earl then delivered a passionate eulogy at Diana’s funeral, pledging the princess’ “blood family” would protect William and Harry “so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as you planned”.
Published: by Radio NewsHub