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Earl Spencer has faced allegations that he has aligned himself with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as controversy intensifies over his new memoir about his late sister, Princess Diana.
The publication has triggered another highly public dispute involving the Royal Family, with critics questioning Spencer’s motives for revisiting some of the most painful events surrounding Diana’s death.
Speaking to GB News, royal author Tom Bower alleged that the memoir was about more than promoting a new book and claimed Spencer had developed an alliance with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Bower said: “[Earl Spencer] is not only selling a book, but he’s also undoubtedly formed an alliance with Harry and with the Duchess to somehow damage the King.”
Spencer, however, pushed back against the criticism on Friday evening, maintaining that his account reflects events as he remembers them and insisting that “he’s telling the truth”.
The dispute intensified after one of the book’s most striking allegations became public earlier in the week. Spencer claims that following Diana’s death in 1997, the then-Prince of Wales told him: “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough,” a claim that has fuelled further controversy ahead of the memoir’s release.
Earl Spencer has now spoken publicly about the controversy, refusing to retreat from his version of the conversation with the then-Prince Charles.
In his first remarks since the allegation emerged, Diana’s brother insisted that he accurately remembered what was said during the exchange. He stated: “I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said.”
During an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Friday evening, Spencer described the alleged comment as “monstrous” and provided further detail about how he remembers the tense telephone call unfolding.
According to Spencer, Charles initially reacted with intense anger and criticised members of the Spencer family.
He recalled: “(The King) went ballistic, would be the right term, and started really going for my family as a whole, about their sense of duty, not being adequate enough, and ranted for a while, I have no idea how long, but it was a significant period, and I just listened.”
Spencer said there was eventually a pause in the conversation, which led him to believe Charles was about to change his tone.
He continued: “And then he stopped, and I thought, ‘Oh now he’s gonna pull himself together and say something more appropriate’, and then he said, ‘We’ll forget her soon enough’.”
The Earl claimed he was so taken aback by the remark that he immediately challenged Charles before ending the call.
“I really was so stunned, and I just, after a stunned silence, I said, ‘I cannot believe you just said that’, and I hung up on him.”
Asked what evidence existed to support his account of the alleged conversation, Spencer said he had shared what happened with people close to him immediately afterwards.
He explained: “I told friends and family straight away, close friends and family, about what had been said, because it was so monstrous. I’m telling the truth.”
READ MORE: Subtle Change in King Charles Spotted Weeks After Prince Harry’s Return to Britain
Parts of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister have been serialised ahead of the memoir’s full release, bringing a series of new allegations about the Royal Family into the spotlight and reviving painful questions about the period immediately following Princess Diana’s death.
Diana, the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry, was killed in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
Royal commentator and author Tom Bower has strongly challenged Spencer’s portrayal of Charles’s behaviour after the tragedy. In particular, he rejected the Earl’s claim that the then-Prince of Wales sounded “giddily elated”, describing that characterisation as “complete rubbish”.
Bower said he had revisited the issue with sources he relied upon while researching his book about Charles, Rebel Prince, and claimed their recollections painted a very different picture.
He said: “When I wrote my book about Charles, Rebel Prince, I had impeccable sources in Balmoral and all sorts of things, and I called some of them today, and all of them united in saying that Charles was in real grief.
“The idea that he would even say ‘rest assured’ that bit – but the idea was giddily elated, is complete rubbish. The man was absolutely smitten. He was horrified. He was frozen.”
Bower also expressed disappointment at Spencer’s decision to publish the allegations, while drawing a comparison with Prince Harry’s decision to write his own memoir.
He added: “So I think it’s rather sad that Charles Spencer, who I had great regard for as a historian, should be doing this. But then Prince Harry did the same with his biography. I think it’s money troubles, personal troubles.”
Prince Harry is understood to have known that his uncle was preparing a book about Princess Diana before its publication, although reports suggest he had not been informed of the specific revelations it would contain.
The Duke reportedly discussed the forthcoming memoir with Earl Spencer during a July visit to Althorp, the Spencer family’s 13,000-acre estate in Northamptonshire.
The book’s arrival also comes only weeks after Harry and Meghan returned to Britain following six years of living in California. Their children, seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet, have since reportedly started attending schools in the UK.
Tom Bower also highlighted another connection between Spencer and Harry: Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is being released by Penguin Books, the same publisher behind Harry’s memoir, Spare.
Bower argued that generating publicity was part of the strategy surrounding the book, but claimed the situation had wider implications for the Sussexes and their relationship with the Royal Family.
He said: “They want headlines, which they’ve got. But I think it’s more serious than that. The return of Harry and Meghan is heading towards a crisis. They haven’t declared why they’re here. They haven’t declared what they’re how long they’ll stay.
“Their object is not only to ingratiate themselves with the Royal Family, but to cause trouble. And there’s no doubt that Harry knew that Spencer was going to bring out this book. It was a pincer movement.”
Veteran royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams offered a similar interpretation of the timing, characterising the developments as “planned”.
Richard Fitzwilliams has also suggested that the timing of recent developments was deliberate, arguing that the Royal Family had been caught between the Sussexes’ return to Britain and the publication of Earl Spencer’s highly critical memoir.
Speaking to the Daily Express, he said: “I believe what was planned was a pincer movement to blindside the Royal Family.
“It’s all been planned. The biography shows the King, when Prince Charles, in the worst possible light.
“It is essential that the Palace let this disreputable tract masquerading as a biography have a few more days of sensation, and say nothing, however horrible its contents.”
Spencer’s book contains several other deeply personal claims concerning Diana’s life. He alleges that “in her later years” his sister once drove to Beachy Head in East Sussex intending to take her own life, but ultimately changed her mind because of her love for William and Harry.
The Earl also claims that Queen Elizabeth II considered returning Diana’s Her Royal Highness style after it was removed following her divorce from Charles. Elsewhere in his allegations, Spencer criticises what he describes as a “lack of care” shown towards the young Prince Harry during his mother’s funeral.
Buckingham Palace responded to the growing controversy on Wednesday with an unusually pointed statement addressing the memoir.
A Palace spokesperson said: “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 Palace has not issued any further public response to the additional allegations that have subsequently emerged.
Meanwhile, during his BBC interview, Spencer stressed that direct telephone conversations between himself and Charles had been extremely rare.
He said: “I’ve only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life.
Spencer continued to stand firmly behind his recollection of the alleged conversation, stressing that the rarity of his telephone contact with Charles made the exchange particularly memorable.
He told Laura Kuenssberg: “I was hyper alert to what he was saying and those are precisely the words that he said and I promise that to you now.”
The Earl also argued that Buckingham Palace’s response had stopped short of explicitly rejecting his claim that Charles told him “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”.
Addressing the Palace statement, Spencer said: “They haven’t actually (denied the claims), Laura, they’ve sort of smudged that one, haven’t they? They’ve said recollections may vary.”
Diana’s brother went on to speculate about the King’s reaction to the controversy, questioning whether Charles might now feel “embarrassed” or “furious” about the allegations becoming public.
Prince Harry’s spokesperson was approached for a response to the claims.
Spencer’s controversial new memoir, which has already generated considerable attention through extracts released ahead of publication, is scheduled to arrive next week.
