King Charles's Ex-Communications Secretary Breaks Silence on Charles Spencer's Explosive Claim
A bombshell claim about King Charles and Princess Diana has prompted a rare Palace response and pushback from a former royal aide.
Earl Charles Spencer, Princess Diana’s younger brother, is set to release a memoir detailing his memories of the late royal and the tumultuous years surrounding her death. An extract from the book has already revealed a deeply hurtful remark he claims King Charles made about Diana just days after her death, while a former royal aide has now suggested the comment does not sound like the King he knew.
In an excerpt released by the Daily Mail, Spencer claimed in his memoir that Charles questioned the family’s sense of duty before allegedly unleashing what his brother-in-law described as “pent-up contempt” for Diana. He claims the then heir to the throne eventually told him, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”
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!”
The claim has since prompted an unusually strong response from Buckingham Palace. Now, one former royal aide has also offered a very different recollection of the King.
Julian Payne, who served as Charles’ communications secretary from 2016 to 2021, said the Palace’s decision to respond so directly was telling. In his view, the fact that officials felt compelled to address the memoir’s claims showed just how strongly they felt about the portrayal of the King. “I just don't recognize the way the King is characterized in those remarks,” he told Daily Mail.
The Palace issued the response late yesterday, shortly after the first extract from Spencer’s memoir was published. A royal representative said, “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss.”
