Prince William ignored questions about Earl Spencer’s book on Princess Diana on its publication day today, after almost a week of palace efforts to undermine the memoir.
On an official engagement where he served popcorn and sold tickets to moviegoers to celebrate grassroots cinema in Acton, west London, William studiously avoided a reporter’s questions about whether he had read the book and what he felt about it.
The heir to the throne, it has been made clear, is incandescent about its publication.
But displaying a classically ambivalent attitude towards the controversy, the Prince of Wales did not serve up anything publicly to royal watchers waiting with their metaphorical popcorn at home.
At one event last week, senior aides were forthright in explaining why he would not be drawn publicly into reacting to claims made in the book.
But at the same time they were also able to convey his anger that once again lurid allegations about family matters were distracting the public from seeing the impact of the monarchy’s official work.
It is the royal way, according to insiders. The book’s publication was also greeted with stony silence at Buckingham Palace, where the mood music was that enough had been said about Lord Spencer’s criticism of the King in his memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, and it was best to try to move on.
Declining to comment, a spokesman for the monarch also avoided addressing questions about whether, after immediately authorising a statement last Wednesday suggesting that Spencer’s recollections of conversations had been clouded by his grief, the King had approved of subsequent attacks attributed to his “allies”.
The King and his sons have not answered further questions about Earl Spencer’s book – but briefing has begun (Photo: Philippe Huguen/Getty)One report last Sunday, citing people who had spent the week with the King, in a publication regularly favoured by the palace looked like a concerted effort to damage the credibility of Spencer. It accused him of hypocrisy for peddling her privacy despite previously accusing the media of hounding Diana to her grave.
But officially at least, the palace has made only one statement: “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.”
Inside the palace defences
What has come into the public domain since has at least partly been royal aides, friends of the family, and former aides giving their views privately. The topic has come up naturally at events but, as is so often the case, the family has managed to get its message across regardless of the palace’s public stance.
That can happen naturally with so many people in royal circles but, in truth, the palace mantra of “never complain, never explain” has always been something of a myth.
The family and their advisors do let much inaccurate or unfair media coverage go without complaint, perhaps more so than politicians.
The late Queen and Prince Philip tried not to let much bother them. Asked by his police bodyguard why he had not complained about an untrue story alleging he had said something controversial and offensive, Philip famously told one of his police bodyguards he had not bothered because “it’s the sort of thing I would say”.
But royal aides can also be pretty adept at getting their version of events over on background. They are also not averse to using the threat of legal action, public denouncements or referrals to the press regulator to persuade editors and reporters that it would not be in their interests to cover some stories, especially when it deals with what they consider the family’s privacy.
The Prince of Wales is incandescent – but remaining silent when it comes to a response to the book (Photo: Rasid Necati Aslim/Getty)In this case, the palace’s efforts to undermine Spencer have also been helped by journalists independently pointing out inaccuracies in the book. The author had to apologise to Piers Morgan on Tuesday after wrongly implying he was partly responsible for running photos of Diana in a gym in 1993.
There has been no such criticism from Prince Harry, who is closer to Lord Spencer than his brother William is to the peer. But Harry too has ignored questions about the book. Sources close to him have insisted that, while he knew that his uncle was writing a book, he had no prior knowledge of the contents.
One topic William and Harry agree on
In an interview with People magazine in the US, Spencer, 62, said he had told his two nephews William and Harry, and his sisters Jane and Sarah all at the time time that he was writing the book. “And I can say that Harry is completely fine about it,” he added, without discussing William’s reaction.
Harry had said he hoped there was nothing embarrassing about him in the book and had been reassured but Spencer’s account also backed up the suggestion that he had been light on details when explaining it to his family.
His sisters, he said, were hurt that he had not told them earlier but he had been determined to do it without their input.
He added: “I wanted them to be able to put their hand up and say, ‘Well, we didn’t know he was doing it,’ in case there’s backlash or whatever. So they’re totally innocent parties in this.”
Prince Harry, seen during a school visit in Birmingham as part of his Invictus Games work earlier this week, is thought to have known about the book – but not its contents (Photo: Aaron Chown /Getty)William and Harry are still not thought to be on speaking terms but honouring their mother’s legacy is at least one topic on which they have failed to fall out over the past few years. Both see their day-to-day charity work as part of her legacy and each has worked to perpetuate her memory via The Diana Award, the charity set up after her death, even though they have not felt able to do so in the same room since their big fallout.
Some friends have wondered if their mother’s memory could yet prove something on which to build some sort of reconciliation. But the picture is set to get more complex after sources close to Harry finally admitted that there is some truth to reports that he is planning his own television documentary about Diana.
Spencer said that part of the reason he had decided to write his book was that a nephew, thought to be Harry, had approached him about taking part in a programme about her.
It is understood that Harry’s idea is just one of many projects under discussion about how best he could honour her memory in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of her death in August next year and no final decision has been taken.
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