Princess Diana's brother Earl Charles Spencer has made explosive allegations against King Charles III over his reaction to Diana's fatal car crash in leaked book excerpts.
The disclosed passages from the upcoming memoir have ignited a fresh controversy for the British royal family, drawing a rare and blunt rebuke from Buckingham Palace.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said in a statement that although the palace does not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is aware that the pain of sibling grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and alter memory in ways that others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.
The excerpts come from the book Swan Song, which is scheduled for publication next week by Penguin Random House. While CNN did not view the book prior to publication, a spokesperson for Penguin Random House confirmed that excerpts published exclusively by the Daily Mail are accurate.
Reaction to the Paris car crash
The book contains several revelations regarding the troubled marriage of Charles and Diana, as well as the former Prince of Wales's response to her death. Spencer detailed the tense night of August 31, 1997, when the first reports emerged of the fatal car crash in Paris.
Spencer recalled maintaining frequent telephone contact with his sister Jane as the tragedy unfolded, before telephoning his former brother-in-law after learning that Diana had died.
During that call, Spencer said Charles sounded dizzy with euphoria, comparing his manner to that of a lottery winner. Spencer alleged that looking back, he suspected the prince's immediate instinct was to think more about how the death would free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than valuing the loss of someone he did not love.
Charles had separated from Diana before their 1996 divorce, following years of marital breakdown. Charles later married Camilla, who is now Queen Camilla.
Clash over the funeral procession
Spencer also recounted a later telephone confrontation between the two men as they discussed whether Prince William and Prince Harry should walk behind their mother's coffin at her funeral. Spencer said Charles unleashed a torrent of rage before pausing briefly.
Spencer wrote that he assumed the pause signaled an effort to regain self-control, but Charles then blurted out what Spencer interpreted as bottled-up contempt for Diana and horror that the world was so deeply shaken by her death. Spencer wrote that Charles hissed down the line that he should rest assured because they would forget her very quickly.
Spencer wrote that he responded coldly by telling Charles that he could not believe he had just said that, before hanging up the telephone.
Spencer described walking behind his sister's coffin as a heartbreaking experience, adding that he was worried by a lack of explicit care for Prince Harry following Diana's death. Harry naturally needed his mother's hugs, which would be denied to him forever, Spencer wrote, but instead of calm and welcoming support, he was allowed to spin out of control.
Doubts before the royal wedding
The memoirs also detail Spencer's view of his sister's unhappy relationship with the then Prince of Wales, alleging that Diana attempted to break off the engagement before the wedding took place.
Spencer claimed that Diana wanted to call off the union after Charles showed almost no interest in her during the 21st birthday party of his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Immediately following that evening of growing disillusionment, Diana went to see her father and told him she could not go through with marrying a man who clearly did not love her.
Spencer said her father refused to permit Diana to break off the engagement. That incident occurred shortly after Diana discovered a bracelet that Charles had bought for Camilla, according to Spencer's account.
Spencer wrote that on the day before the wedding, Charles told Diana she needed to know he was very happy to marry her, but was not actually in love with her, citing an account his sister gave to a close friend.
Comments regarding Diana's weight
Spencer alleged that Charles made hurtful comments about Diana's physical appearance only a few days after their engagement was publicly announced. Spencer claimed Charles squeezed Diana by the waist and remarked that she was a bit chubby there.
Diana, who suffered from the eating disorder bulimia, found the comment devastating, Spencer said. Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by cycles of binge eating and purging, often accompanied by severe body image distress.
Spencer wrote that Diana later shared with him that her waist measurement shrank from 73 centimetres to 59.5 centimetres between their engagement and the wedding day.
Dispute over Diana's royal title
On the day of Diana's funeral, Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore the title of Her Royal Highness, which Diana had lost following her divorce from Charles, Spencer alleged.
The letters HRH are used to designate specific senior members of the British royal family. The late Queen had declared one year before the tragedy that the style of Her Royal Highness would be removed in the event of divorce, as occurred with Diana and Sarah Ferguson after Ferguson divorced Prince Andrew.
Spencer said Diana had been terribly hurt by what he called the petty and vindictive removal of the title. Spencer decided to reject the late monarch's well-intentioned offer, viewing it as a consolation prize.
Spencer recalled a conversation with Robert Fellowes, the Queen's private secretary, writing that he felt in the depths of his soul that he knew how Diana would view the posthumous honor. Spencer told Fellowes that while it was very kind of the Queen, he questioned what the point was now that Diana was dead.
The Daily Mail is publishing the exclusive excerpts ahead of the official release of Swan Song next week.
