Princess Diana once teased her younger brother about whether she would make a good American first lady after an aging suitor suggested a presidential run, according to a memoir published in September 2026. The book also details post-divorce plans for South Africa and sharp royal tensions surrounding her 1997 funeral.
Charles Spencer has opened up about the private world of his late sister in his memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. Released in September 2026, the book brings forward a trove of lesser-known episodes from the princess’s post-divorce life, ranging from high-profile transatlantic proposals to the icy friction within the royal family following her death.
The White House Ambition and the Unnamed Suitor
Among the more striking disclosures in the book is an exchange between the siblings regarding a powerful American admirer. Following her separation from then-Prince Charles in 1992, Diana asked her brother a playful question.
“Carlos, do you think I would make a good American First Lady?”
Princess Diana, via Marie Claire
Her brother recalled being completely taken aback by the inquiry. According to the memoir’s excerpts shared by RadarOnline, the princess explained that one of her many powerful, aging American suitors
had pursued her with a distinct pitch. The unnamed politician told her that winning the United States presidency would be guaranteed if she agreed to marry him.
Spencer noted that his sister was less captivated by the older suitor himself than by the theatrical prospect of the role. The position offered a mischievous attraction to reinventing herself in a role that would make her enemies in the British Royal Family sick with jealousy,
Spencer wrote, adding that it would have brought a level of glamour to Washington that might have outshone even the era of Jackie Kennedy.
A Dream of Asylum and Normalcy in South Africa
Before her life took its tragic turn, Diana looked far beyond Washington for a quieter existence. After falling in love with heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan, she nurtured what her brother described as a naïve yet impossible
vision of relocating to South Africa, where Spencer lived at the time. England had grown intolerable to her.
To the princess, the other side of the world represented a genuine chance at asylum from the pressures of the British establishment.
Tensions Over Funeral Arrangements and Buckingham Palace’s Response
The memoir’s most combustible passages detail the immediate aftermath of Diana’s death in September 1997. Spencer writes that during a phone conversation on the morning she died, then-Prince Charles sounded giddily elated—comparing his tone to that of a lottery winner and acting strangely matter-of-fact about the catastrophe.
The friction escalated during arguments over funeral protocol, particularly after Spencer objected to Princes William and Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin.
“Rest assured … we’ll forget her soon enough!”
King Charles, via Fox News
Spencer responded that he could not believe what he had just heard before hanging up. In the wake of these revelations, Buckingham Palace issued a rare official statement addressing the book.
“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.”
Buckingham Palace, via Fox News
Lasting Public Investment Across the Atlantic
While the British monarchy has spent decades attempting to fold Diana’s tumultuous legacy into institutional history, America has largely maintained its emotional investment. Decades after her passing, polling indicates enduring affection stateside, illustrating why revelations from her inner circle continue to resonate with an audience that viewed her less as a foreign royal figure and more as an archetypal celebrity whose trials mirrored modern public life.