Earl Spencer’s Diana memoir continues to cause controversy, with the latest revelation reportedly leaving King Charles ‘enraged’
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The controversy surrounding Earl Spencer’s memoir about his sister, Diana, shows little sign of dying down.
Just over two weeks after A Swan Song: My Sister, Diana landed on shelves, the book has already prompted an unusually pointed response from Buckingham Palace over Spencer’s recollections of King Charles’ alleged reaction following Diana’s death in 1997.
Now, another deeply personal claim has thrust one of the most difficult chapters of the Royal Family’s history back into the spotlight.
Spencer writes that Diana allegedly told him she was ending her marriage because, in her words, ‘My husband is in love with his valet’.
The alleged valet is not identified in the book and the claim has not been independently substantiated. However, it has inevitably revived long-standing rumours about Charles and a former member of his household – allegations which have previously been denied by the Palace.
Charles is reportedly ‘enraged’ by the memoir
Amid the renewed scrutiny, a source claims the King, 77, is furious about the fallout from the memoir and the issues it has brought back into public discussion.
An insider said ‘All the King can talk about right now is this book and everything it’s dredged up. He’s enraged and can’t believe that there was nothing that could be done to stop this.
‘The worst part is that he’s now having to worry about who will come after him next, and what they might say; it’s left him totally on edge. He can’t sleep, he’s hardly eating, and he’s so short tempered, which is making him very hard to live with.
‘Camilla is trying to be sympathetic but she doesn’t have a whole lot of patience because she’s going through her own turmoil with all of this, she feels attacked, too. The whole atmosphere is very toxic.’
The claims have not been independently verified.
Palace challenged Spencer’s account of Diana’s death
The most explosive claims in Spencer’s book concern Charles’ alleged behaviour in the immediate aftermath of Diana’s death.
According to Spencer’s account, Charles was full of ‘contempt’ for his former wife’s popularity and allegedly told him: ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!’
Spencer also describes Charles as ‘giddily elated’ following Diana’s death, comparing his alleged mood to that of a ‘lottery winner’.
Buckingham Palace responded with an unusually direct statement, which read: ‘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 colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.’
Spencer has stood by his recollection, while the Palace statement has been interpreted as challenging the reliability of his memory rather than directly addressing the precise wording he attributes to Charles.
Diana allegedly told Spencer why her marriage was ending
The memoir now brings another aspect of Charles and Diana’s troubled marriage back into focus.
Spencer recalls a conversation with his sister about her decision to divorce Charles, claiming Diana attributed the breakdown of their marriage to her belief that her husband was in love with an unnamed member of his staff.
The claim is not presented as an independently established fact. Spencer writes that Diana did not tell him the identity of the member of staff and that he never asked her who she meant.
Nevertheless, the allegation has revived rumours which circulated around Charles and members of his household during the 1990s.
At the time, allegations were reportedly made by another valet, George Smith. The claims were denied by the Palace.
Spencer’s memoir has now brought that old speculation back into public discussion, adding another layer to a book which has already reopened painful memories surrounding Diana’s marriage.
Camilla is also pulled back into the story
Although she is not the central focus of the memoir, Spencer makes clear that he believes Diana’s marriage to Charles was deeply affected by his relationship with Camilla.
Among his recollections is an alleged conversation between Diana and a friend on the eve of her wedding, in which Spencer claims his sister said Charles was ‘very happy to marry her’ but was not actually in love with her.
Elsewhere, Spencer recalls allegations of a secret ‘rendezvous’ on the Royal Train in 1980, just weeks before Charles married Diana.
He writes: ‘As it was not Diana, then who was the blonde? After her marriage took the direction it did, Diana became convinced that she must have been Camilla Parker-Bowles.’
‘She’s horrified that it’s back in the headlines’
For Camilla, the renewed focus on the past is reportedly particularly unwelcome after years spent attempting to move beyond one of the most difficult periods of her public life.
A source claims: ‘Earl Spencer doesn’t directly take jabs at Camilla in his book, but he certainly alludes to her involvement in his sister’s divorce. The reality is that Camilla was the other woman so with everybody dissecting Charles and Diana’s marriage, there’s simply no way she isn’t going to be in the conversation.
‘It’s very difficult for Camilla to have everyone talking about her this way again, she’s worked so hard to distance herself from this narrative, she’s horrified that it’s back in the headlines.
‘She’s complaining that he’s so wrapped up in his own misery that he’s forgetting that she’s getting dragged through the mud as well. In her view, as her husband he should be looking after her right now.’
The claims about the King and Queen’s private feelings have not been independently verified.
The memoir comes at a difficult time for the King
The timing is particularly uncomfortable for Charles.
The King is continuing to receive cancer treatment while also dealing with ongoing complications surrounding Prince Harry’s relationship with the Royal Family, reported tensions with Prince William and the continuing situation involving Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was arrested in February under suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Now, Spencer’s memoir has reopened some of the most painful memories surrounding Charles, Diana and Camilla – more than three decades after the events at the centre of the controversy first unfolded.
