Earl Spencer has accused King Charles of gaslighting him after Buckingham Palace pushed back against explosive claims made in a new memoir about his late sister Diana.
A PR battle is brewing over the book Swan Song following claims by Spencer that Charles said “we’ll forget her soon enough” shortly after the Princess of Wales’s death.
Buckingham Palace hit back with a statement claiming that grief can “cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory”.
But Diana’s brother said that response was “below the belt”, telling the BBC: “It is not every day you wake up to find you’ve been gaslit by the King.”
Will Spencer’s claims hurt Charles’ public standing? With the help of royal commentators and PR experts, The i Paper assessed the most potentially damaging allegations.
Claim: Charles had ‘giddy’ tone after Diana’s death
Charles sounded “giddily elated – like a lottery winner” on a phone call with Earl Spencer after Diana’s death, the earl alleged in his book.
“I felt there was a sort of giddy tone,” Spencer told BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
Dai Davies, head of Scotland Yard’s Royal Protection Command between 1994 and 1998, said Spencer’s memory of the phone call “could be suspect”.
He added: “Speaking to protection officers at the time, the impression was that Charles was totally devastated. But unfortunately, some people might listen to [the claim]. It won’t do Charles and the Royal Family any good.”
Earl Spencer has made claims about a phone call with Charles (Photo: Max Mumby/Getty)Some people will accept the Palace’s argument that grief “colours” memory, said royal correspondent Richard Fitzwilliams. “But it could be potentially damaging, because of how cherished Diana is,” he added.
Lauren Beeching, a crisis communications specialist, pointed out that “none of us” could know what was said on the call. Yet the claim could still be “reputationally difficult” for Charles, she added.
“A disputed sentence can be denied,” said the PR expert. “Describing someone’s tone creates an impression of their emotional state, and that is much harder to unpick once it is in somebody’s head.”
Claim: Charles said ‘We’ll forget her soon enough’
Charles was angered about Spencer’s objection to William and Harry walking behind Diana’s coffin at the funeral procession, the earl also claimed.
Spencer claimed that the King said to him over the phone: “We’ll forget her [Diana] soon enough.”
Fitzwilliams said it was possible that the alleged phrase “could stick for some people” and was potentially damaging, regardless of its truth. “It could genuinely anger some people,” he said.
“Diana is still part of the popular imagination, an icon, with a unique blend of magic for many people. So what will young people think? That’s the test for Charles and the Palace.”
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