The top five bombshell claims from Earl Spencer’s book so far
The top five bombshell claims from Earl Spencer’s book so far
Bryony Gooch,Suha Kidwai and Nicole Wootton-Cane Sat, September 19, 2026 at 2:20 PM UTC
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The second series of excerpts from Earl Spencer’s book about Princess Diana have been released as he doubled down on his claims in a fresh interview.
In his highly anticipated memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, the Earl has made bombshell allegations about King Charles’ conduct around his ex-wife Princess Diana up to and following her death.
Revelations from the book, currently being serialised by the Daily Mail before it is published next Tuesday, have so far focused on the King’s behaviour, from statements he made to Diana before their marriage to comments he made to the Earl before her funeral.
Earl Spencer gave an interview to the BBC ahead of the book’s publication in which he insisted everything he said was true amid backlash.
Prior to the serialisation, Buckingham Palace responded directly to the allegations, saying the King was mindful that “grief can cloud reason” in reference to the Earl.
Here are the latest bombshell allegations made in the memoir.
The latest extract from Earl Spencer’s book declares Prince Charles ‘had no place’ at Diana’s funeral (PA Archive)Charles acted like a ‘lottery winner’ in hours after Diana’s death
King Charles allegedly acted like a “lottery winner” in the hours after Princess Diana’s death, her brother Earl Spencer has claimed in his explosive book.
Earl Spencer accused the then-Prince of Wales of appearing “giddily elated” on the phone, shortly after his former wife had been killed in a car crash in Paris.
One passage read: “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.
“He let me know he had informed William and Harry of their mother’s death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral.
“It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.
“Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not.”
The Earl recalled his concerns surrounding then-Prince Charles’ decision to include William and Harry in the funeral procession (AFP/Getty)‘We’ll forget her soon enough’
The latest serialisation of the Earl’s book was released alongside a teaser clip of an interview he gave to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, in which he insists everything he has said is true - including his claim the King told him “we’ll forget her soon enough” after Diana’s death.
Speaking about an alleged row over Diana’s funeral arrangements involving her sons, the earl said: “(The King) went ballistic, would be the right term, and started really going for my family as a whole, about their sense of duty, not being adequate enough, and ranted for a while, I have no idea how long, but it was a significant period, and I just listened.
“And then he stopped, and I thought, ‘Oh now he’s going to pull himself together and say something more appropriate’.
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“And then he said, ‘We’ll forget her soon enough’.”
Asked whether he has “evidence” of the King’s comments, the earl told the BBC: “I told friends and family straight away, close friends and family, about what had been said, because it was so monstrous.”
He added: “I’m telling the truth.”
Earl Spencer at Diana’s funeral (PA)After Diana’s death, there was ‘a lack of obvious care’ for Prince Harry
In other passages of the book, Earl Spencer spoke of his concern for Prince Harry.
He wrote: “My chief memory of that train journey is of being concerned at the lack of obvious care for Harry, as he decompressed from the ghastliness of the morning.
The then Duke of Edinburgh, William, Earl Spencer, Harry and Charles during the funeral procession to Westminster Abbey (PA Archive)
“He needed Diana’s hugs, of course, and they would forever be denied him. But instead of calm and nurture, he was allowed to spin out of control.
“I have often looked back, reckoning that a more caring hand at such points as this would have helped him enormously in the future. Instead, he seemed so very alone in his despair and torment”.
The Queen’s offer to restore her honorifics posthumously
Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing Paul Costelloe in 1991 (Alamy/PA)
The Earl wrote he rejected the late Queen’s “well-meaning” gesture to restore Diana’s HRH title posthumously as it felt like a “consolation award”. He claimed his sister was “dreadfully hurt” by the “petty and vindictive” decision to remove her title, and just hours after her funeral she offered to restore it.
“I felt that I knew in my bones how she would view this posthumous award,” he writes. “That's very kind of the Queen, of course. But what's the point, Robert? Now? I mean – Diana's dead.”
He said that just hours after his eulogy at Diana’s funeral, the late Queen’s private secretary Robert Fellowes beckoned me to follow him into a quiet corner of the carriage.
“I have just received a call from Her Majesty… and she would like to offer Diana her HRH title back,” he wrote Mr Fellowes as saying.
While the Earl later wondered if he was right to reject the award, he felt “the title should never have been removed during her life, in which case it would not have been necessary to offer it to her in death.”
Queen reacted ‘tetchily’ to news of fatal crash
Earl Spencer further claimed Elizabeth reacted “tetchily” to news of his sister having been in a car accident.
He said: “When the Queen had heard the first news of Diana’s being in a traffic accident, she had asked tetchily, ‘What is she up to now?’
“This, before the seriousness of it all became clear.”
His full interview with Laura Kuenssberg will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer on Sunday from 4pm and broadcast on BBC One at 6.30pm.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
