Spencer says Charles told him "we'll forget her soon enough" after Diana's death
Charles SpencerAuthor of "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" and brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, writing in the memoir as serialised
In his memoir "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," serialised from September 16, Charles Spencer writes that the then Prince Charles telephoned him in the days after Diana's death in 1997 and said, "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough." Spencer describes the remark as hissed and attributes it to what he calls Charles's pent-up contempt for Diana and his horror at the scale of public grief. This is the central allegation of the case. The quotation is Spencer's recollection of a private call almost three decades earlier; the characterisations of Charles's tone and motive are his own, and Buckingham Palace has neither confirmed nor denied the words.
“He unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. "Rest assured," he hissed, "we'll forget her soon enough!"”
Reporting
Other statements by Charles Spencer in this case
- Spencer tells CBS he is “reporting that’s the fact,” not “justifying or criticizing”Later: Mixed or conditional
- Spencer tells CBS he is “absolutely not bitter” and that his book “would be more bitter” if he wereLater: Challenged the characterization
- Spencer denies trying to discredit CharlesLater: Challenged the characterization
Where this statement fits
Earl Spencer's memoir claims about King Charles's reaction to Diana's death
In his memoir "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," serialised from September 2026, Charles Spencer makes a series of claims about how the then Prince Charles behaved towards him after Diana's death in 1997. He writes that Charles told him by phone, "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough," and, in later excerpts, that Charles sounded "giddily elated – like a lottery winner" during the call and that he now suspects Charles was weighing how the death might free him to marry Camilla. Buckingham Palace, in a rare on-record statement, did not directly confirm or deny the quotation, saying instead that "the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory," and declined to respond again to the later claims. The dispute is whether Spencer's account of Charles's words and demeanour is accurate.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
IBTimes UK report quoting the memoir "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" directly: the alleged phone call in which then-Prince Charles told Spencer "we'll forget her soon enough," and Spencer's reply.
Before the quotation
The memoir recounts the days immediately after Diana's death in a car crash in Paris in August 1997, when Spencer was receiving condolence calls. He contrasts the call he attributes to Charles with those from other callers.
After the quotation
Buckingham Palace responded in a rare on-record statement that it does not comment on books as a matter of principle, but that His Majesty is mindful that "the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss." Further excerpts published on September 17 carried Spencer's separate claim that Charles sounded "giddily elated" on the call, recorded separately. The book publishes on September 22.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Spencer is the author of that account and makes the allegation at the centre of the case, attributing to Charles both the remark and a contemptuous motive for it. That is an adverse judgment on the conduct under scrutiny by its principal accuser, and it sits opposite Buckingham Palace's reply, classified “Challenged the characterization” for questioning the reliability of the recollection without denying the words. The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”; it does not fit, because Spencer is advancing a description rather than disputing one.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- King Charles III
More from this case
Read the full caseRichard Kay says Spencer told him after Diana’s death that Charles had been “utterly pathetic”
“He and I spoke several times during that frightful week between Diana’s death and her funeral. … Then, pointedly and without further explanation, he said everyone he had been dealing with over the funeral – courtiers, officials, Downing Street – had been helpful, with one exception. Who, I asked? ‘Prince Charles,’ came the reply. He said they’d had a ‘furious row’. It was ‘about the boys’, but he was reluctant to go further. Cuttingly he added: ‘He has been utterly pathetic.’”Read statement
Dickie Arbiter says Spencer “really has got an axe to grind” and “he'll make a lot of money”
“I have to say here and now, I worked for the King for five years. I was in very close proximity of him. I was his spokesman for five years. I do not believe he ever said that, let alone think that. It's just not in his DNA. He wouldn't even think anything like that. He wasn't capable of thinking like that. And I think Charles Spencer really has got an axe to grind. And you have to ask, why after 29 years? Why didn't he do it, say, on the 25th anniversary of Diana's death? Has he been harboring it for 29 years? I really do not understand why he's coming out with it now. I mean, yeah, it's a good line. It sells books and the books will fly off the shelves if people indeed want to read it or believe it. And he'll make a lot of money. It's interesting, isn't it? He once said in 1998 in a television interview, I will not profit on my sister. And what is he doing? Just that.”Read statement
Andy Webb says Spencer relayed the conversation to him privately “over the years”
“He came across to me as never anything less than a truth teller. … He’s a ferocious note taker. And indeed, the account of that conversation with King Charles about, you know, Diana will soon be forgotten — I can say now that that conversation itself had been, you know, relayed to me confidentially, and I’m sure not only me over the years.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Spencer says Charles told him "we'll forget her soon enough" after Diana's death". First published: 2026-09-17. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/980-in-his-memoir-swan-song-diana-my-sister