According to the report, King Charles III allegedly made the remark, “Rest assured, we will soon forget her,” during a heated discussion over arrangements for Princess Diana’s funeral. Spencer had objected to Prince William and Harry
According to the report, King Charles III allegedly made the remark, “Rest assured, we will soon forget her,” during a heated discussion over arrangements for Princess Diana’s funeral. Spencer had objected to Prince William and Harry, who were 15 and 12 years old at the time, being made to walk behind Diana’s coffin. Spencer wrote that Charles responded with “extreme anger.” In his book, Spencer described this anger as a sign of a long-standing resentment toward Diana.
A forthcoming memoir by Earl Spencer, the brother of British Princess Diana, contains sensational claims about the late princess. After excerpts from the book emerged, Buckingham Palace became involved in an unusual public dispute with the author. Excerpts published by the British newspaper the Daily Mail allege that King Charles III told Spencer in the days following Princess Diana’s death in 1997, “Rest assured, we will soon forget her.” Buckingham Palace has issued a strong response to the claim, an unusual move given its longstanding policy of not commenting on books.
In its statement, Buckingham Palace said that although it does not generally comment on books as a matter of principle, “His Majesty is aware that the grief of losing a sibling can cloud judgment, affect decision-making, and alter memories in ways that others may not recognize, even many years after such a profound loss.” Royal commentators, including Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, described the response as unprecedented. She suggested that the King was deeply distressed and particularly wanted to clarify the facts for the sake of his sons. Julian Payne, the King’s former communications secretary, said that the alleged words were “certainly not language that I recognize.” He described the Palace’s statement as an indication of how strongly officials felt the need to respond.
According to the excerpt, King Charles III allegedly made the above-mentioned remark during a heated discussion over the arrangements for Princess Diana’s funeral, when Spencer objected to Prince William and Harry, who were 15 and 12 years old at the time, being made to walk behind Diana’s coffin. Spencer wrote that Charles responded with “extreme anger.” In his book, Spencer described this anger as a sign of a long-standing resentment toward Diana.
Prince Harry has previously said that no child should be asked to walk behind a parent’s coffin, although he later said that he was glad to have been part of it. Earlier this week, the unpublished book, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, was reportedly stolen from a truck in the Netherlands shortly before its scheduled release next week.
Recently, Charles addressed a summit of leaders from the AI industry at Dumfries House in Scotland. It was his first public appearance following the controversy surrounding Spencer’s book. Senior officials from Nvidia, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI attended the summit. Charles warned of the “existential risks” posed by AI falling into the wrong hands and urged technology leaders to ensure that, as the technology advances, “the sacred status of humanity remains intact.” He described the current moment as decisive for future generations.
