Earl Charles Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, former Princess of Wales, has revealed in his memoir his memories of preparing for her funeral in 1997.
His account drew an unusual rebuttal from King Charles III’s side, making the memories themselves surrounding a long family history the center of debate.
The issue is not newly establishing the truth of past conversations, but that differing recollections are confronting each other publicly.
3-Line Summary
1. The memories of Charles III and Spencer diverged
2. The issue concerns conversations about preparing Diana’s funeral
3. The conversations in the memoir are not established facts
The 1997 Funeral at Which the Two Princes Walked Behind the Coffin
In his memoir *Swan Song: Diana, My Sister*, Earl Charles Spencer wrote, according to his own recollection, about conversations he had with the royal family immediately after his sister Diana’s death. Diana died in Paris, France, in August 1997 after a traffic accident.
At the center of the dispute is the funeral procession held at Westminster Abbey. Prince William, who was 15 at the time, and Prince Harry, who was 12, walked behind their mother’s coffin. According to reporting by Female First, Spencer said he opposed the two boys’ participation in the procession.
Spencer said he had a heated phone conversation with Charles, then the Prince of Wales, about the funeral preparations, and claimed that Charles said something to the effect that he would soon forget Diana. This is Spencer’s recollection, and the contents of the phone conversation were not presented as an independently established fact.
Buckingham Palace Rebuts the Problem of Memory
Buckingham Palace issued a statement, while noting that it does not normally comment on books, to the effect that the pain of losing a sibling can, over time, affect rational judgment and color memory in ways other people may not notice. This meant that the King’s side did not accept Spencer’s account.
Spencer later maintained in a BBC interview that he had heard the remarks accurately. One side presents a specific conversation as a memory, while the other challenges the reliability of that memory. Thus, the matter is less about determining who experienced the past loss more deeply and more about the conflict that arises when recollections are read as historical records.
An Apology Also Emerged Over Claims About Photo Coverage
The memoir caused controversy in other passages as well. Spencer apologized after wrongly identifying broadcaster Piers Morgan in connection with the publication of photographs of Diana exercising in the 1990s. He explained that he had mistakenly assumed Morgan was the editor of the *Daily Mirror* when the photographs were published.
Morgan said he was pursuing legal action over the book’s claims. Although the entire memoir cannot be definitively judged based on the correction of one passage, it has become clear why accounts containing strong expressions, such as those concerning the funeral preparations, should be read while distinguishing the author’s memory from verified records.
This controversy is not a new policy of Charles III or an official decision by the royal family. It is an incident in which a memoir and a royal statement directly clashed over how the family members left behind after Diana’s death remember the same period.
References
Tags #CharlesIII #CharlesSpencer #Diana #DianaFormerPrincessOfWales #SwanSong #DianaMemoir #BuckinghamPalace #BritishRoyalFamily #WestminsterAbbey #PrinceWilliam #PrinceHarry #PiersMorgan