Charles Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana, is sharing a bombshell claim about King Charles III’s reaction to her death.
In an excerpt from his new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, published by the Daily Mail on Thursday, September 17, Spencer, 62, recalled his first conversation with Charles, 77, after Diana died in a car accident in August 1997.
“The phone rang constantly. Prince Charles caught me as I crossed the landing upstairs,” Spencer wrote. “Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated — like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time.”
“He let me know he had informed [Princes] William and Harry of their mother’s death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral,” Spencer continued. “It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.”
Spencer added, “Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not. It can be hard to feel too much sympathy for an ex-spouse, or those who care for them profoundly, after bitter divorce.”
Us has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
Charles and Diana wed in 1981 but separated just over a decade later in 1992. Their divorce was finalized in 1996. Charles went on to marry Queen Camilla in 2005.
In another excerpt from the book published by the Daily Mail on Wednesday, September 16, Spencer claimed that Charles once told him that Diana would be forgotten in time.
“Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough,” Spencer alleged Charles told him over the phone during an argument about Diana’s funeral arrangements.
Spencer hypothesized in the book that Charles “unleashed” his comments because he had “pent-up contempt for Diana” and was horrified “the world was so bowled over by her death.”
“I was so stunned that it took me a few seconds to reply. ‘I can’t believe you just said that,’ I said flatly, before hanging up,” Spencer wrote.
In a statement to Us on Wednesday, Buckingham Palace 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 judgement, and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss.”
