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Charles Spencer Says King Charles Showed ‘Contempt’ for Diana as Memoir Copies Stolen Before Release

While promoting the book, Spencer explained how he plans to tell Diana’s side of the story with this book.

(L) Princess Diana at a state banquet on April 16, 1986, in Vienna, Austria. (R) Charles Spencer showing off his upcoming book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. Cover Image Source: (L) Getty Images | Anwar Hussein (R) Instagram | @charles.earl.spencer
(L) Princess Diana at a state banquet on April 16, 1986, in Vienna, Austria. (R) Charles Spencer showing off his upcoming book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. Cover Image Source: (L) Getty Images | Anwar Hussein (R) Instagram | @charles.earl.spencer

Ahead of Princess Diana’s 30th death anniversary, her brother, Charles Spencer, has written a new memoir, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. While promoting the book, Spencer explained how he plans to tell Diana’s side of the story with this book. However, things have taken quite an unexpected turn. According to HELLO!, the book has ended up becoming the subject of an ongoing police investigation.

(L-R) Charles Spencer with his upcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. (Image Source: (L-R) Instagram | @charles.earl.spencer)
(L-R) Charles Spencer with his upcoming memoir, 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.' Image Source: (L-R) Instagram | @charles.earl.spencer

Several copies of his much-awaited memoir were reportedly stolen ahead of its official release on 22 September. According to reports, 4 copies of the book were taken from a lorry in the Netherlands when the driver, who was driving the books to the warehouse for distribution, took a break to catch up on some sleep. Upon waking, the driver discovered that somebody had broken into the vehicle. This led to a complaint being filed with the Dutch police, who have officially started looking into the matter.

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | (L) Karwai Tang/WireImage; (R) Tim Graham
(L) Charles Spencer attends the Invictus Games Foundation's 10th Anniversary Service; (R) Princess Diana attends a dinner in Paris. (Image Source: Getty Images | (L) Karwai Tang/WireImage; (R) Tim Graham Photo Library)

Earlier this month, Spencer gave royal watchers a special glimpse. He penned, “Always an amazing, and exhilarating, moment for an author to hold the first physical copy of a new book — and even more so for me with Swan Song, the most personal of the ten books I've written over the past three decades.” He added, “At heart, this is a brother's simple tribute to an extraordinary sister." 

<<enter caption here>> at Millennium Biltmore Hotel on May 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
Charles Spencer at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on May 11, 2016, in Los Angeles, California. (Image Source: Getty Images | Charley Gallay)

This made the whole journey extra special for him. In fact, he further revealed that completing the book left him with a powerful feeling of certainty. He argued that Diana would have agreed with every word that he had written. “As with my eulogy, I want to speak on Diana's behalf and do so in an openly positive way." With the memoir now at the center of a police investigation, it’s quite safe to say that this has only raised the anticipation around Spencer’s upcoming book.

In an excerpt shared by the Daily Mail, Spencer recounted a phone conversation he had with then-Prince Charles after Diana’s death. He wrote: “Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting. Then he stopped. I assumed the pause signaled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. ‘Rest assured,’ he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!’”

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