Memoir Claims Charles Told Spencer Diana’d Be Forgotten

Charles Spencer's memoir Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, due September 22, 2026, recounts an alleged phone call with then-Prince Charles six days after Diana died in a 1997 Paris car crash. Spencer says the heated exchange followed his objection when a Queen Elizabeth aide said William, then 15, and Harry, 12, would walk behind her coffin; he answered 'That's not going to happen.' Charles cited his own walk in Lord Mountbatten's 1979 procession at age 30. Spencer describes Charles's angry outburst, then the words 'Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough!' Spencer says he replied 'I can't believe you just said that' and hung up. On September 6, 1997, William, Harry, Spencer, Charles and Prince Philip walked behind the coffin before an estimated 2.5 billion people. What is contested: Spencer presents the remark as pent-up contempt for Diana and horror at the world's grief. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told GB News that while they 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. Some accounts describe the princes' participation as a collective family decision. A Daily Mail preview carried the claims ahead of full publication.