Nearly three decades after Princess Diana’s death, the painful days surrounding her funeral have returned to the center of a royal dispute.
This time, the allegations come from Diana’s only brother, Charles Spencer.
In his forthcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer claims that the then-Prince Charles sounded “giddily elated” during a telephone conversation in the hours after Diana died in Paris on August 31, 1997. He also alleges that during a later dispute over the funeral, Charles told him that Diana would soon be forgotten. (Reuters)
Buckingham Palace has now taken the unusual step of responding.
And its carefully worded statement challenges something fundamental about Spencer’s story: his memory of what happened.
Diana’s Brother Is Finally Telling His Version
Spencer’s book, due to be published on September 22, arrives as the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death approaches next year.
When the project was announced, Spencer said his goal was to tell Diana’s story specifically from the perspective of her brother. He has described the book as a personal tribute rather than an attempt to settle old scores.
But excerpts released before publication contain allegations that inevitably reopen one of the most painful chapters in modern royal history.
Perhaps the most startling concerns the first hours after Diana died.
Spencer Says Charles Sounded ‘Giddily Elated’
Diana died at 36 after the car carrying her and Dodi Fayed crashed in Paris.
Spencer was in South Africa when he learned what had happened.
In his account, he subsequently spoke by telephone with Diana’s former husband.
Spencer alleges that Charles’ demeanor during that conversation startled him. Rather than sounding like the other people who had called him in shock and grief, Spencer writes that Charles sounded “giddily elated.” Reuters reports that Spencer compared his impression at the time to hearing someone who had just won the lottery. (Reuters)
That is Spencer’s recollection and interpretation of Charles’ tone. It is not an independently verifiable account of what Charles was actually feeling.
And Buckingham Palace strongly disputes the broader portrayal.
Then Came an Even More Controversial Alleged Remark
Spencer says tensions intensified while Diana’s funeral was being planned.
One major disagreement concerned William and Harry.
William was 15.
Harry was 12.
The plan was for the boys to walk behind their mother’s coffin during the funeral procession.
Spencer says he objected.
According to his memoir, he believed Diana would never have wanted her sons subjected to such an intensely public ordeal immediately after losing their mother. (AP News)
It was during an argument about those arrangements, Spencer alleges, that Charles made the remark now dominating headlines.
“Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”
Spencer says he was so stunned that he ended the conversation. (Reuters)
Buckingham Palace does not accept his account.
The Palace’s Response Was Remarkably Personal
The Royal Family traditionally avoids publicly litigating allegations contained in books.
This time, it didn’t simply say “no comment.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said that although the palace generally does not comment on books, the King recognizes that profound grief can affect a person’s “reason,” “judgment” and “memory.” (Reuters)
It was an unusually pointed response.
The palace did not merely offer a competing account of the funeral discussions. Its statement questioned whether Spencer’s recollection after nearly 30 years should be treated as reliable.
That prompted another escalation.
Spencer Says He Is Telling the Truth
Spencer has refused to withdraw the allegation.
Asked about the palace response in an interview published September 18, he replied simply:
“I’m telling the truth.”
He also said that the alleged remark affected him so strongly that he discussed it with friends and relatives at the time — something he argues supports his confidence in the memory decades later. (People.com)
Then, on September 20, Spencer went considerably further.
He accused the King of “gaslighting” him and called the palace response “astonishingly provocative and below the belt.” (People.com)
So this is no longer merely an allegation contained in a memoir.
The two sides are openly disputing what happened.
William and Harry Ultimately Did Walk Behind the Coffin
Whatever was said privately, the world knows what happened next.
On September 6, 1997, Diana’s coffin traveled through London.
Behind it walked five men and boys: Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Charles Spencer, William and Harry.
The image became one of the defining photographs of Diana’s funeral.
Two young boys were walking behind their mother’s coffin while hundreds of thousands of mourners lined the streets and millions more watched on television.
Years later, both princes discussed the decision.
In the BBC documentary Diana, 7 Days, William described it as a difficult but collective family decision. (People.com)
Harry has also spoken about the extraordinary experience of having to grieve so publicly.
Spencer Says He Tried to Stop It
Spencer’s new account makes clear how strongly he says he opposed the plan at the time.
His objection wasn’t simply that the procession would be unpleasant.
He believed the boys were too young and emotionally vulnerable to be placed in such a public position.
According to Spencer, the disagreement became one of the most contentious elements of planning Diana’s funeral. (AP News)
Yet the historical record also contains perspectives beyond Spencer’s recollection. William himself has described the eventual choice as collective rather than attributing it to one individual forcing him to participate. (People.com)
That distinction matters when looking back nearly three decades later.
The Funeral Was Already Taking Place in an Atmosphere of Extraordinary Anger
Diana’s death produced a level of public grief Britain had rarely experienced.
Flowers accumulated outside Kensington Palace.
Crowds filled London.
People openly wept in the streets.
But grief quickly became anger too.
The Royal Family was criticized for remaining at Balmoral with William and Harry rather than immediately returning to London. The palace flag controversy became another symbol of what critics viewed as an institution struggling to respond to the public mood.
Reuters notes that the monarchy’s restrained initial reaction contrasted sharply with the enormous public outpouring, forcing the institution to adapt its response. (Reuters)
Eventually, Queen Elizabeth II returned to London and delivered an unprecedented televised address about Diana.
Charles, meanwhile, had already traveled to Paris with Diana’s sisters to accompany her coffin home.
Charles and Diana Had Divorced Only a Year Earlier
The tragedy came at the end of one of the most scrutinized marriages of the 20th century.
Charles and Diana married in 1981.
William arrived the following year, followed by Harry in 1984.
Their relationship deteriorated publicly, and the couple separated in 1992 before finalizing their divorce in August 1996. Diana died almost exactly one year later. (Reuters)
By then, their marital problems were hardly secret.
Both had publicly acknowledged infidelity.
Charles’ relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles had become one of the central controversies surrounding the breakdown of the marriage.
But a failed marriage doesn’t establish what Charles felt when Diana died.
That is precisely why Spencer’s allegation remains an allegation rather than a factual description of Charles’ emotional state.
Spencer Makes Other Claims About the Funeral
The disagreement over William and Harry isn’t the only behind-the-scenes dispute described in Swan Song.
Spencer says Diana’s family wanted Mozart’s Requiem included because his sisters knew Diana had wanted it played after her death.
He claims that request was rejected during the planning process. (People.com)
More broadly, Spencer describes feeling that Diana’s birth family was expected to defer to Buckingham Palace even though Diana and Charles had already divorced.
“Diana remained theirs, in Buckingham Palace’s eyes, even in death,” Spencer writes in the excerpt reported by PEOPLE. (People.com)
Again, that is Spencer’s characterization of events.
The palace has declined to respond individually to every allegation.
Almost 30 Years Later, Diana Still Has an Extraordinary Hold on Public Attention
The timing of the controversy has produced another remarkable coincidence.
Diana’s famous black off-the-shoulder “revenge dress” has just gone on display at Sotheby’s in London.
She wore the Christina Stambolian dress in June 1994 on the same evening a television documentary aired in which Charles acknowledged marital infidelity.
It subsequently became one of Diana’s most recognizable fashion moments.
The dress is now beginning an international tour before an auction later this year. (Reuters)
So while newspapers debate what happened during the week Diana died, one of the most famous symbols of her independence has simultaneously returned to public view.
The Timing Is Particularly Difficult for King Charles
Charles is now 77 and has been King since 2022.
The allegations concern the behavior of a man who was then the Prince of Wales, but they are landing while he is the reigning monarch.
They also arrive during a complicated period for the Royal Family.
Reuters reports that Charles continues to undergo cancer treatment while navigating renewed public attention around Diana, Prince Harry’s return to Britain and other family controversies. (Reuters)
That makes the palace’s decision to respond particularly notable.
Silence would have been the traditional option.
Instead, it challenged Spencer publicly.
And Spencer Is Not Backing Down
Spencer insists the book isn’t intended as revenge.
When Swan Song was announced in August, he said his purpose was to tell the truth about Diana from his perspective and to speak positively on his sister’s behalf.
After recording the audiobook, he said he believed Diana would have approved of every word.
Critics have questioned whether reopening intensely private arguments serves Diana or her sons.
Spencer rejects suggestions that commercial motives explain the memoir and says he wanted to tell the story while he was still able to do so. (People.com)
Neither side appears inclined to retreat.
What We Actually Know — and What We Don’t
Some parts of the story are historical fact.
Diana died in Paris on August 31, 1997.
William was 15 and Harry 12.
Both boys walked behind her coffin.
Charles Spencer was there.
Charles was there.
The Royal Family faced extraordinary public anger in the days following Diana’s death. (AP News)
What cannot independently be established from the available evidence is exactly what was said during private telephone conversations nearly 30 years ago — or what Charles emotionally felt in those moments.
Spencer says one thing.
Buckingham Palace disputes his recollection.
That distinction gets lost in headlines claiming it has somehow been established that Charles was “elated” by Diana’s death.
It hasn’t.
The Palace’s ‘One Line’ May Become Part of the Story It Was Trying to Contain
The graphic says King Charles “finally drops one unforeseen line.”
More accurately, Buckingham Palace issued a statement on the King’s behalf.
And instead of ending the controversy, that response created another chapter.
By suggesting grief may have colored Spencer’s memory, the palace prompted him to defend himself publicly and accuse the King of trying to undermine his recollection. (People.com)
Nearly 30 years after Diana’s funeral, the two families are once again publicly disagreeing about what happened during those extraordinary days.
And perhaps that is the most remarkable element of all.
Diana died in 1997 at just 36.
Yet in 2026, a disputed private conversation from the hours after her death can still dominate British headlines, force Buckingham Palace into an unusually personal response and reopen questions that have never completely disappeared.
The allegation belongs to Charles Spencer. The denial belongs to Buckingham Palace. And almost three decades later, the private truth of that conversation remains contested. (Reuters)
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