'Swan Song': Charles Spencer Releases Memoir on Sister Princess Diana
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Nearly three decades after Princess Diana's death, a new memoir by her younger brother, Charles Spencer, has reignited discussion around her life, marriage, and fraught relationship with the British royal family.
Titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, the book was released globally on Tuesday, published by Penguin in 12 languages.
The memoir had already stirred controversy even before its full release, after excerpts surfaced containing striking claims about Diana's former husband, King Charles III, and the wider royal family.
The 9th Earl Spencer has for years voiced concerns over how his sister was treated by the House of Windsor.
Among the claims in the memoir, Spencer alleges that King Charles sounded "giddily elated" and "like a lottery winner" during a phone call following Diana's death in 1997.
Spencer also writes that he opposed plans for Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to walk behind their mother's coffin during her funeral procession, saying he believed Diana would not have wanted her young sons subjected to that ordeal.
He claims King Charles "went ballistic" during an argument over the matter, telling him: "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough." William was 15 and Harry 12 at the time.
The image of the two young princes walking behind their mother's coffin went on to become one of the most enduring moments of Diana's funeral, watched by millions worldwide.
Following the release of excerpts last week, Buckingham Palace issued an unusually pointed response: "His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."
Diana married Charles, then Prince of Wales, in 1981 at age 20; he was 32. Their wedding, broadcast to a global audience, was widely hailed as a fairytale royal occasion. Their marriage later unravelled under intense media scrutiny.
In a 1995 BBC interview, Diana famously remarked that "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded" — a reference to Charles's relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.
Diana became one of the most recognisable figures in the royal family, widely known as the "People's Princess," and her popularity made her a constant target of media and paparazzi attention.
Charles and Diana divorced in 1996. The following year, Diana died at age 36 in a car crash in Paris while being pursued by paparazzi. Charles later married Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005.
