Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, made sure to give nephews Prince William and Prince Harry a heads-up about his personal new book.
“I told them at the same time. … I can say that Harry is completely fine about it,” Spencer, 62, told People in an interview published Monday, September 21. “He said, I hope there’s nothing embarrassing about him in it. I said, ‘There isn’t.’”
In his new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer explores his tensions with former brother-in-law King Charles, his bond with Princess Diana and her struggles living in the public eye before her death.
Spencer believes some family members were concerned about “where I was going up to with the book.”
“It pretty much ends in 1997 with Diana’s death, and there’s a tiny postscript by the grave. So I think there was this, ‘Gosh, what’s he written about?’ And I think it’s natural that people so in the public eye are concerned how they will come across in the book,” Spencer shared. “But I could reassure both of them that they’re of course in the book, but really as examples of two little boys who had the most exceptional mother. I’m not in any way compromising their privacy at all.”
Spencer also admitted that he was concerned about how William, 44, and Harry, 42, would regard his portrayal of their father.
“Yeah, that was a concern,” he shared. “I mean, I don’t want this to sound loaded, but there was an awful lot I could have put in, and I didn’t. If I wanted to write a scandalous book about Prince Charles or King Charles as he is now, it would really be a jaw-dropper, but I’m not here to do that.”
Although Swan Song is expected to provide one of the most intimate, loving and honest portraits of Princess Diana, Spencer said he kept many of the details surrounding his book private.
In fact, Spencer’s own sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes didn’t know about the project until later on.
“When I told them, I think they were very surprised. They hadn’t seen it coming,” he shared. “I explained to them, ‘It’s a pure celebration of our sister.’ They’re still digesting it, actually. I think they’ll wait to see what it’s like when it comes out. But they are very different personalities, I would say. One of them is very, very shy, a private person, a wonderful person, but very, very quiet in a quiet world, but very amusing if you met her. Great fun. And the other one is quite a handful of energy and vibrancy and everything.”
Spencer continued, “I think they were hurt that I hadn’t told them, to be honest. … They’re totally innocent parties in this. This is very much a brother’s view.”
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is available starting Tuesday, September 22.
