Charles Spencer memoir revisits Princess Diana’s life and royal tensions
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister has been released globally, with disputed claims about King Charles and Diana’s funeral drawing a rare response from Buckingham Palace.
Charles Spencer’s memoir about his sister, Princess Diana, was released globally on Tuesday by Penguin and translated into 12 languages. Swan Song: Diana, My Sister revisits Diana’s life, her marriage to Charles, then the Prince of Wales, and her death in 1997.
The book includes Spencer’s claim that King Charles sounded “giddily elated” when he spoke to him after Diana’s death. Spencer also alleges that he opposed William and Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin during the funeral procession, saying Diana would not have wanted them to endure the experience.
William was 15 and Harry was 12 when they took part in the procession in 1997, after Diana died in a Paris car crash while being pursued by paparazzi. Spencer’s recollections have not been independently verified.
Buckingham Palace issued a rare rebuttal after extracts from the memoir were published before its release. The palace said the pain of fraternal grief could cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory, including many years after the loss.
Diana married Charles in 1981, when he was the Prince of Wales, and the couple divorced in 1996. The memoir’s release reopens disputes over the royal family’s treatment of Diana, while the source provides no direct response from King Charles beyond the Buckingham Palace statement.
