Princess Diana's Brother Charles Spencer Makes Shock Claim About King Charles in New Book

King Charles III is responding to a shock claim made by Charles Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana.

Spencer, who famously took aim at the Royal Family at Diana’s funeral, made the accusation in a new memoir. The book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, will be released on September 23. The Daily Mail has been excerpting it.

Spencer claimed the King said, after Diana died in a car crash in Paris: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.” This was such an incendiary claim that the palace has taken the rather extraordinary step of responding to it rather than keeping the proverbial stiff upper lip.

King Charles III Released a Statement That Said Fraternal Grief ‘Can Cloud Reason’

The king rarely speaks publicly about news stories, even very negative ones. However, in this case, he released a statement that appears to rebut Spencer’s claim.

“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 color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss,” the palace told People.

At the time of her death, Diana and Charles had divorced after a contentious marriage that disintegrated amid Charles’ relationship with Camilla, now the Queen consort. Diana died with her new boyfriend after a car crash in a Paris tunnel.

The Dispute Was Over Whether Princes William & Harry Would Walk in Diana’s Funeral Procession

According to the Daily Mail, Spencer and the king disagreed over whether the young princes should walk in their mother’s funeral procession, which they ultimately did, alongside their father, uncle and grandfather. Spencer thought Diana would not have wanted them to endure that. The king wanted them to walk in the procession. The princes were ages 15 and 12 at the time.

“Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting. Then he stopped,” Spencer wrote, according to Daily Mail.

‘I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. ‘Rest assured,’ he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!'”

Spencer responded, “I can’t believe you just said that,” according to Daily Mail.

Prince William previously said in a BBC documentary that the decision to walk in the procession was a joint one. “It wasn’t an easy decision, and it was a collective family decision to do that,” he said, according to People.

However, Charles Spencer previously told People that he was against the idea at the time. “I was just so worried — what a trauma for a little chap to walk behind his mum’s body,” Charles, 9th Earl Spencer, said, referring to Prince Harry. “It’s just awful. And, actually, I tried to stop that happening, to be honest.”

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