Key facts
- Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'giddily elated' and 'like a lottery winner' in a phone call after Princess Diana's death.
- Spencer's memoir alleges Buckingham Palace wanted William and Harry to walk behind Diana's coffin to shield Charles from public abuse.
- Buckingham Palace stated that grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and color memory.
- Spencer suggests some at Buckingham Palace were 'relieved – indeed pleased' at Diana's death.
- Diana confided that Charles told her he was not in love with her before their wedding.
Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana, claims in his forthcoming memoir that King Charles sounded "giddily elated" and "like a lottery winner" in a phone call immediately after Diana's death in 1997. Extracts from the book, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," published by the Daily Mail, also allege that Buckingham Palace officials feared public abuse directed at the then-Prince Charles if he walked alone behind Diana's coffin at her funeral.
Spencer suggests in his memoir that some within Buckingham Palace were "relieved – indeed pleased" at Diana's death, and that Charles's immediate thought may have been about marrying Camilla Parker Bowles. He also recounts Diana confiding that Charles told her he was not in love with her before their wedding and that she believed he was "entering their marriage with his heart elsewhere."
Buckingham Palace issued a statement in response, saying: "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."
Diana died at age 36 in a Paris car crash while being pursued by paparazzi. Spencer also writes that Diana had contemplated ending her life, driving herself to Beachy Head, but was stopped by her love for her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.