Princess Diana’s brother, aka the 9th Earl Spencer, has written a memoir chronicling the years before and after his sister’s death, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. And hold onto your ornamental fascinators, because it’s already being dubbed “explosive.”
On Thursday, the Daily Mail published the first excerpts of the memoir, and you guessed it! It’s not too flattering for His Majesty King Charles —not that he needed any more bad press, what with Megxit, that Prince Andrew/Jeffrey Epstein stuff, and the other “explosive” biography claiming he doesn’t travel without his own custom toilet seat and childhood teddy bear, has his shoelaces ironed daily, and brings his own chef to friends’ houses for dinner. Oh, and that he’s still tucked into bed every night. There’s also the matter of The Crown.
In the newly released excerpt, Spencer recounts the events following the fatal Paris car crash that took Diana’s life, as well as her partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul.
“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.”
Pause for a moment of reflection for the phrase “giddily elated”—which has to be the most British way of saying “happy” I could think of.
In another interaction after Diana’s death, Spencer recalls telling the then-Prince that Diana would not have wanted her sons to walk in her funeral procession. Still, Charles allegedly insisted. Per the excerpt:
[Charles] 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!”
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.
I guess The Crown was a documentary.
Buckingham Palace later issued a very snoot-laden statement in response to the book, 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.” Meanwhile, Spencer says, “The aim of this book is to tell the truth about Diana from her brother’s perspective, just as I attempted to do when speaking at her funeral. As with my eulogy, I want to speak on Diana’s behalf and do so in an openly positive way.”
Who to believe, who to believe. The British monarchy… or literally anyone else?
