King Charles III faced severe criticism after Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, alleged in a memoir excerpt that Charles sounded giddily elated and like a lottery winner during a phone call immediately following Princess Diana’s tragic death in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
The royal family found itself bracing for fresh controversy as advance excerpts from Charles Spencer’s forthcoming book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, hit public view. The memoir delivers a series of searing allegations regarding the immediate aftermath of Princess Diana’s fatal car crash in Paris at age 36, which left her sons Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, then 12, without a mother.
Among the most explosive claims in the book is Spencer’s recollection of the phone call he received from the then-Prince Charles while crossing the landing upstairs at his home in South Africa. While other callers struggled to articulate their grief, Spencer wrote that the future king struck a distinctly discordant tone.
“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.”
Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer, via NBC News
Disputed Phone Calls and Palace Retaliation
According to Spencer’s account published across multiple outlets, Charles informed him first thing that morning that he had already told William and Harry of their mother’s death in their bedrooms at Balmoral. Spencer noted that the notification all sounded strangely matter-of-fact given the enormity of the disaster.
The siblings’ notoriously bitter divorce had been finalized on August 28, 1996, just one year and three days before the fatal accident. Reflecting on the timing, Spencer wrote that Charles’s initial reaction likely stemmed from the realization that the tragedy freed him to marry the woman he loved—referring to his longtime mistress and now Queen Camilla, whom he ultimately wed in 2005.
Buckingham Palace issued a rare and forceful statement pushing back against the memoir’s claims, arguing that decades of mourning can distort perspective. The palace statement asserted 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.
Funeral Rows and Long-Buried Contempt
The book also details intense clashes over funeral protocols. Spencer alleged that royal officials turned down a request to play Mozart’s Requiem. Furthermore, Spencer strongly opposed the decision to have young princes William and Harry walk behind their mother’s casket at her September 6, 1997 funeral at Westminster Abbey.
When Spencer challenged the procession plans, a furious argument erupted. Spencer wrote that Charles unleashed pent-up contempt down the phone line and expressed shock that the world was so overwhelmed by grief for his ex-wife. In a previously released excerpt, Spencer claimed that Charles told him, Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough
during the dispute.
Spencer replied flatly, I can’t believe you just said that,
before slamming down the phone.
Broader Revelations and Ongoing Royal Duties
Beyond the immediate aftermath of the crash, Spencer’s memoir touches on Diana’s early marital struggles, her battles with an eating disorder, and her deep-seated mental health challenges during her later years. He wrote that she drove herself more than once to Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in England, contemplating ending her life before her love for her sons pulled her back.
While the palace deals with the fallout from the serialized excerpts, members of the royal family continue their public schedules. King Charles recently met with artificial intelligence figures at a summit in Scotland, while Prince William and Princess Kate attended charitable events in the region. Prince Harry, whose own memoir Spare shook the monarchy in 2023, maintains close ties to the Spencer family but avoided reporter questions regarding his uncle’s book.
With Swan Song: Diana, My Sister scheduled for public release, Buckingham Palace officials declined further comment beyond their initial statement addressing the toll of fraternal grief.