17-09-2026
Nearly three decades after Princess Diana died in a Paris car crash, her brother, Charles Spencer, is making new allegations about how the British royal family treated her during the planning of her funeral. In his forthcoming book, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” Spencer claims he objected to Princes William and Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin. He says the then Prince Charles questioned his family’s sense of duty and told him, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.” The boys ultimately joined the procession, creating one of the most enduring images of Diana’s funeral.
Spencer also accuses King Charles III of having “contempt” for Diana. Buckingham Palace issued a carefully worded response, saying the king recognizes that “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory.” Although the palace did not directly call Spencer’s account false, the statement casts doubt on the reliability of his recollections.
The article places the dispute in the context of the enormous public grief following Diana’s death in 1997. The royal family faced widespread criticism for appearing detached from the public’s mourning, creating a public-relations crisis that has continued to affect the monarchy. CBS royal contributor Roya Nikkhah predicts that Spencer’s allegations may be the first of several sensational claims published before the book’s release, forcing Buckingham Palace to decide whether to respond to each one or rely on its initial statement.
The controversy comes as the royal family faces other pressures, including King Charles’s cancer treatment, Catherine, Princess of Wales’s recovery from cancer treatment, and renewed scrutiny of Prince Harry and Meghan’s strained relationship with the family.
Entities: Princess Diana, Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer, King Charles III, Prince William, Prince Harry • Tone: analytical • Sentiment: negative • Intent: inform
17-09-2026
The article reports a renewed dispute between King Charles III and Earl Charles Spencer, Princess Diana’s younger brother, over events surrounding Diana’s death and funeral in 1997. In his forthcoming book, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," Spencer alleges that Charles reacted angrily when he objected to Princes William and Harry walking in their mother’s highly publicized funeral procession. Spencer claims the king told him, "rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough," describing the remark as evidence of Charles’s contempt for Diana and discomfort with the public’s intense reaction to her death.
Buckingham Palace has responded cautiously, saying it does not normally comment on books. A palace spokesperson suggested that fraternal grief can cloud judgment and affect memories, implying that Spencer’s recollection may have been shaped by the pain of losing his sister. The statement reflects the longstanding hostility between the Spencer and Windsor families, which intensified after Diana’s death in a Paris car crash while her driver was attempting to evade paparazzi.
Diana’s death prompted an enormous public outpouring of grief in Britain and internationally, while the monarchy faced criticism for its initial public response. The conflict between the two families has remained a recurring subject in the British media and popular culture, including the television series "The Crown."
The controversy comes as Charles and Queen Camilla continue a series of public engagements in Scotland. At Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Charles is scheduled to meet executives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic to discuss responsible artificial-intelligence development. He is expected to argue that technological progress must remain in the service of humanity, communities and the natural world. British Artificial Intelligence Minister Kanishka Narayan and Pope Leo XIV adviser Paolo Benanti are also due to attend.
Entities: King Charles III, Earl Charles Spencer, Princess Diana, Buckingham Palace, Princes William and Harry • Tone: analytical • Sentiment: negative • Intent: inform
17-09-2026
King Charles III has made the unusual decision to respond publicly to criticism from Charles Spencer, the brother of his late first wife, Princess Diana. The criticism concerns the king’s conduct in the period immediately following Diana’s death in 1997. Diana, who was 36, died in a Paris car crash while travelling with her companion, Dodi Fayed. Their vehicle was being pursued by paparazzi photographers on motorcycles.
According to reporting by the Daily Mail, which is scheduled to begin serialising Spencer’s forthcoming memoir, Spencer alleges that the then Prince Charles told him after Diana’s death: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.” The allegation is presented as part of Spencer’s account of the royal family’s response to Diana’s death and its aftermath.
In a rare statement, a spokesman for King Charles addressed the claims on Wednesday. The spokesman said that grief can affect a person’s reason, judgment and memory, apparently challenging the reliability or interpretation of recollections surrounding the events. The article does not provide a detailed rebuttal of the alleged words or further explanation from the palace.
The dispute revives scrutiny of the relationship between Charles and Diana and of the royal family’s handling of her death, which generated intense public attention worldwide. Spencer’s memoir is soon to be published, and the Daily Mail’s planned serialisation is expected to bring further attention to his allegations. The report, published by Reuters, frames the response as an unusual intervention by the monarch into a personal and historically sensitive controversy.
Entities: King Charles III, Charles Spencer, Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed, Paris • Tone: analytical • Sentiment: negative • Intent: inform
17-09-2026
King Charles III is facing a difficult week as several controversies involving the British royal family converge. Newspapers in the United Kingdom prominently reported excerpts from an upcoming book by Diana’s brother, Earl Charles Spencer, which claims that Charles said after Diana’s death in 1997, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.” Buckingham Palace responded unusually forcefully, suggesting that grief may affect judgment and memory, while the press framed the dispute as another confrontation between the palace and Diana’s family. Public reaction was divided between skepticism about the claims and anger at the reported remarks.
The controversy comes as Prince Harry and possibly Meghan prepare to attend charitable events in Britain. The couple and their children reportedly returned to live in the country after six years in the United States, following their withdrawal from royal duties and repeated criticism of the royal family. Harry’s relationship with his father and brother, Prince William, remains strained. Buckingham Palace has emphasized that Harry and Meghan are private citizens rather than working royals, a distinction that reportedly surprised their representatives.
Further attention is being drawn to Diana through the planned display and auction of her famous black “revenge dress,” worn shortly after Charles admitted adultery. The article places these developments within broader challenges facing the monarchy, including the arrest of Charles’s brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over alleged misconduct linked to Jeffrey Epstein, scrutiny of royal wealth, and declining interest in the institution among younger people. Together, the events highlight the continuing impact of Diana’s legacy, unresolved family divisions, and wider questions about the monarchy’s future.
Entities: King Charles III, Princess Diana, Earl Charles Spencer, Prince Harry, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex • Tone: analytical • Sentiment: negative • Intent: inform
17-09-2026
Princess Diana’s younger brother, Charles Spencer, claims in his forthcoming memoir that the then Prince Charles appeared “giddily elated — like a lottery winner” when he called Spencer shortly after Diana died in a 1997 Paris car crash. Spencer contrasts Charles’s apparent mood with the reactions of others, whom he describes as stunned and struggling to offer condolences. He also says Charles told him that he had informed Princes William and Harry of their mother’s death at Balmoral, describing the conversation as strangely matter-of-fact given the circumstances.
Spencer writes that he suspected Charles’s initial response may have been shaped by what Diana’s death could mean for Charles’s relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. He suggests Charles may have viewed the tragedy as removing an obstacle to marrying Camilla. Charles and Diana married in 1981, separated in 1992, and divorced in 1996. Diana had publicly referred to Charles’s relationship with Camilla during her famous 1995 BBC interview, saying, “There were three of us in this marriage.” Charles and Camilla married in 2005.
Diana died on August 31, 1997, when the car carrying her and Dodi Fayed crashed in a Paris tunnel while being pursued by paparazzi. She was 36.
Buckingham Palace issued an unusual response to Spencer’s claims, saying it normally does not comment on books. A Palace spokesperson said grief can affect how people remember events decades later, adding that “fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory.” The response follows another extract in which Spencer alleged that Charles told him during an argument around Diana’s funeral, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.” Spencer says he wrote Swan Song: Diana, My Sister to challenge what he considers false accounts of his sister’s life. The book’s publication is expected to renew scrutiny of Diana, Charles, Camilla, and the wider royal family.
Entities: Charles Spencer, King Charles III (then Prince Charles), Princess Diana, Prince William, Prince Harry • Tone: analytical • Sentiment: negative • Intent: inform
