Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, addressed Buckingham Palace’s statement to some of the claims he made in his new book, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.”
“They have to gaslight. They have to sort of pretend there’s something wrong with my mind or my memory. There’s nothing wrong with either,” Spencer told “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King in his first live TV interview in the U.S.
In the book, Spencer recalled a conversation he had with King Charles III, then Prince Charles, about Princes William and Harry walking in Diana’s funeral procession. He claimed Charles had told him, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough,” after Spencer objected to Diana’s sons walking behind her coffin.
Buckingham Palace responded to the claim earlier this month in a statement saying the king “is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory.”
Spencer defended his claim, saying “I know I heard that.”
“I only had two conversations on the phone with the now king. So, it’s definitely the case. I told people at the time. I told Barbara Walters, actually, at the time,” Spencer said on “CBS Mornings.”
Spencer said nobody knew he was writing his memoir except for his wife and the publishers.
“I didn’t tell any of the family until just before it was released publicly as a thing. I didn’t want anyone to think, particularly with Harry, who people know I had to stay in the summer, that he was in any way involved in this,” Spencer said.
“It was important to me that they weren’t,” he added.
Spencer said he has spoken with William and Harry since the book was released.
Spencer released the book nearly 30 years after Diana’s death. While recalling the eulogy he delivered during Diana’s funeral in 1997, Spencer said he wants the book to “celebrate Diana.”
“I wanted people to realize she was someone really fabulous who had given life a hell of a go, and sadly, the life was terribly short,” he said.
