Charles Spencer Revisits Princess Diana’s Alleged Claim That King Charles Was 'in Love With His Valet'
During his recent conversation with Katie Couric, Spencer looked back on some of the most difficult moments surrounding his sister’s life.
Charles Spencer’s recent memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has caused an uproar over its many controversial claims. One in particular was originally made by Princess Diana: that King Charles was 'in love with his valet.' Now, Spencer has opened up about the same, revealing what he made of it at the time.
During his recent conversation with Katie Couric, Spencer looked back on some of the most difficult moments surrounding his sister’s life. He recounted a lunch where Diana told him that she had decided to divorce then-Prince Charles. “And then she said this line, which I put in the book, which was, ‘My husband’s in love with his valet.'” He added, “We didn’t push that any further, because the headline was, ‘I’m getting divorced.’ So I remember that, what she said though, because it was quite a jarring thing.”
Spencer said he never asked Diana to explain what she meant by the comment, and she did not identify the person she was referring to at the time or later. When Couric asked whether he had assumed the valet was a man, Spencer said, “I suppose there are female valets, but it would more normally be a male.”
Couric then pointed out that Diana would already have known about Charles’ long-running relationship with Camilla, who would later become Queen. Trying to make sense of the remark, she asked Spencer, “So it was the valet and Camilla?” Spencer replied, “All I can do is record what she said. And that’s it. We did not, I mean, genuinely, didn’t explore that avenue, but it was a big thing to say.”
The comment had folks remembering reports that surfaced in 2003 about an alleged “incident” involving then-Prince Charles and a member of his staff. At the time, a former royal aide secured an injunction preventing the Mail on Sunday from publishing the story, which was described as potentially libelous, according to CBS News.
Charles’ then-private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, later denied the allegation, saying, “I want to make it entirely clear, even though I can’t refer to the specifics of the allegation, that it is totally untrue and without a shred of substance.”
