Earl Spencer's Diana Memoir Calls King Charles a "Bellowing Buffoon" and the Palace Just Responded

A royal feud just went public in a big way. Earl Charles Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother, is releasing a memoir on September 22 called“Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,”and early excerpts are already making headlines. In the book, Spencer calls King Charles a“bellowing buffoon”and claims that after Diana’s death in 1997, Charles sounded“giddily elated, like a lottery winner.”He also alleges Charles told him,“Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”

Buckingham Palace rarely responds to books like this, but this time it did, releasing a statement that the pain of“fraternal grief”can cloud reason, affect judgment, and color memory. The memoir also claims palace courtiers forced Princes William and Harry, then 15 and 12, to walk behind their mother’s coffin to protect Charles from public backlash. Spencer additionally writes that Diana drove to Beachy Head more than once and contemplated suicide during difficult periods of her life.

The book arrives September 22, and given how much royal tell-alls have dominated conversation in recent years, this one is likely to stay in the headlines. It raises real questions about grief, memory, and how much of a family’s private pain should ever become public. Do you think a memoir like this honors Diana’s story or exploits it?