King Charles has issued a rare response after Charles Spencer alleged in his forthcoming memoir that the then-Prince Charles said Princess Diana would be forgotten “soon enough” after her death in 1997.
The claim appears in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer’s account of his relationship with Diana and the events surrounding her death. The book is scheduled for publication on Sept. 22 by Penguin Michael Joseph.
According to Spencer’s account, the alleged remark came during a heated telephone conversation concerning Prince William and Prince Harry’s participation in Diana’s funeral procession.
The brothers were 15 and 12 at the time, and Spencer had objected to them walking behind their mother’s coffin.
Spencer writes that the conversation became increasingly tense before the then-Prince Charles allegedly told him, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”
The statement is Spencer’s recollection of a private conversation nearly three decades ago and has not been independently established in the material reviewed.
Buckingham Palace responded after the excerpt was published, saying that although it does not normally comment on books, King Charles recognizes that grief can affect judgment and memory.
The statement referred specifically to how “fraternal grief” can influence how events are remembered, even many years after a loss. The memoir represents Spencer’s first extended written account of Diana, according to its publisher.
He has said he wanted to present his own memories of his sister ahead of the 30th anniversary of her death and describe her from his perspective.
The book has also faced an unusual pre-publication security incident. Four copies were reportedly stolen from a truck in the Netherlands while being transported ahead of publication, with Dutch police investigating the theft.
For readers, the forthcoming memoir will provide Spencer’s personal account of Diana, while the Palace response adds a separate royal perspective on the reliability of memories shaped by grief.
