A new royal book is about to set off every group chat you’re in. Charles Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother, has a memoir coming out called“Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,”and in it he describes a phone call he received from then-Prince Charles after Diana’s fatal 1997 car crash. Spencer writes that Charles sounded“giddily elated — like a lottery winner,”a striking contrast to the stunned callers Spencer says he heard from that day.
The book also claims Charles described telling Prince William and Prince Harry about their mother’s death at Balmoral that morning. Spencer goes further, writing that he suspects Charles’s first reaction may have been relief at being free to eventually marry Camilla, rather than grief over losing Diana. Charles and Camilla married in 2005.
It’s worth remembering this is a memoir, which means it’s one person’s account of a private moment nearly thirty years old. Buckingham Palace rarely comments on books like this, so the claim is likely to stay exactly where it is: disputed, debated, and everywhere online. For anyone who lived through the summer of 1997, though, it’s impossible to scroll past.
What do you think — does this change how you see the royal family, or is it just a book trying to make headlines?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.