Prince William ‘Must Have Been Furious’ Over Earl Spencer’s Claims About King Charles
EXCLUSIVE: An eminent royal biographer claimed Spencer’s claims may have angered Prince William and deeply hurt the King.
THE allegations made by Earl Spencer in his book, Swan Song: Diana My Sister, would have been particularly difficult for the Prince of Wales.
Royal Biographer, Ingrid Seward believed this because his claims concerned both his father and his late mother. Reacting to the release of the controversial memoir on The Royal Observer's Palace Unfiltered, Seward remarked: "I mean, he must have been furious as well because it’s all very well you can diss your father, but you certainly don’t want anyone else to, especially when it’s poignant to your father and your late mother’s relationship.”
She continued: “So I don’t think it did anyone any good. It got Spencer a lot of publicity. It sold him his serial to the Daily Mail for a lot more money than he might have got otherwise. So it worked for him, but I think in the long term he’s lost a lot of respect from a lot of people.”
Seward’s comments follow the publication of Earl Spencer’s memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, in which Diana’s younger brother has made a series of claims about the Royal Family and the aftermath of the Princess of Wales’s death in August 1997. Among the most contentious is Spencer’s account of an argument with the then-Prince Charles over arrangements for Diana’s funeral and whether William and Harry should walk behind their mother’s coffin.
Spencer claims Charles told him: “We’ll forget her soon enough.” Buckingham Palace disputed that recollection, with a Palace spokesman saying: “The pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.” The very intervention itself shocked Seward, who has covered the Royal Family for decades and has recently published a new book, Catherine & Diana: The inside story of how the Princesses of Wales shaped the modern monarchy.
“It was absolutely staggering to me,” she exclusively told The Royal Observer. “I thought they would never reply, and I just thought there must be so much anger from the King there to allow his spokesman to reply.” She added: "I mean, I’m sure it was his words, but I think he must have been so upset and so hurt that Spencer should make these accusations that he felt he had to reply.”
Seward also speculated that Queen Camilla might have been behind the statement, as she could have encouraged her husband not to allow the allegation to go unanswered. The commentator told us: “I feel a little bit of Queen Camilla there saying, you know, as you would your husband who was really upset: ‘You know, darling, you cannot sit and let this man walk all over you. He’s accusing you of not caring about someone you loved very much and always worried about, and still do."
The disagreement centres on the days immediately following Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. Spencer has said he strongly opposed the idea of William and Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin. At the time, William was 15, and Harry was just 12-years-old.
However, Seward has also cautioned against treating a disputed recollection of a highly emotional argument almost three decades ago as though there were an independent record establishing precisely what was said. Speaking during our interview, the biographer questioned whether the alleged remark may have formed part of a wider conversation about Diana's funeral and William and Harry walking behind their mother's coffin.
“I don't know if what he's saying is accurate, but you know, memory does change over the years. But if the King did say that, I'm sure it was part of another conversation. He's saying, you know, ‘We will forget her soon enough. We must. The boys must do this for her. They must walk behind her coffin because later on, you know, they will regret that they didn't do this.’ I mean, it could have been that.”
She added: “If you're having a screaming match with someone, which doesn't happen every day, you know, things get totally misinterpreted and words get changed. And I think unless that conversation had been recorded, we will never know what was actually said.”
