Our Royal Expert Reveals the Truth Behind King Charles' Reaction to Princess Diana's Death
A former royal press secretary pushes back on Charles Spencer’s claims about King Charles’ reaction to Princess Diana’s death.
Earl Charles Spencer’s upcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has caused an uproar after an extract from the book was recently released. The excerpt makes claims about King Charles and his reaction to Princess Diana’s death, including an alleged hurtful remark. The claims even prompted Buckingham Palace to release a statement. Now, one former royal aide has also come out in defense of the monarch.
During an exclusive conversation with Royal Observer’s Associate Editor Joshua Rom, Dickie Arbiter was asked about Spencer’s account of Charles and Diana’s relationship in the years before her death.
Rom asked the former Palace staff, “Princess Diana and Prince Charles were on better footing before she died, and you know it was very much widely believed that Prince Charles was absolutely devastated after she died.” He continued, “Listen, you were in those rooms, you were the press spokesperson for the Palace at the time… I’m guessing you would say he was devastated, wasn’t he?”
Arbiter, author of On Duty with the Queen, spent 12 years working at Buckingham Palace and had a front-row seat to some of the Royal Family’s most difficult years. He joined the Palace Press Office in 1988 and worked as a press secretary for Queen Elizabeth, as well as the then-Prince Charles and Diana.
Speaking about Charles’ reaction, Arbiter said, “He was devastated. He was shocked. And this became very apparent after they’d attended the service at Crathie Church on the Sunday, before he flew off to Paris. When he was looking at the floor of tributes, holding Harry’s hand, he was absolutely devastated. His body language said everything.”
“His face was so drawn, and you cannot put on an act like that. So, to allege that Charles said what he said… is really a means of dragging up publicity, cheap publicity, to sell a book” he added.
Arbiter also recalled seeing Charles at Kensington Gardens two days before the funeral, where he said the then-Prince looked “drawn,” “haggard” and “very sad.” He added that Charles walking behind Diana’s coffin alongside William and Harry “spoke volumes.”
In the excerpt released by the Daily Mail, Spencer claimed that Charles told him “we’ll forget her soon enough” when he called after Diana’s death. However, the Palace quickly replied to the claims, saying that the “pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory.”
