Julian Payne
Role at the time: Communications secretary to the then Prince of Wales, 2016–2021, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme
Statement summary
Julian Payne, who ran Charles’s communications from 2016 to 2021, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he did not recognise the way the King is being characterised in Spencer’s account, and described Charles as emphatic that Diana’s memory was to be respected and never publicly contested.
“What I remember was he was very clear that there was never to be any criticism, never to be any pushback on the narratives that were usually highly critical of him. He was absolutely emphatic that we were to respect her memory and not undermine it in any way.”
Carries the fullest text of Payne’s BBC Radio 4 remarks of September 17. The same article reports that Charles has authorised trusted aides to speak on his behalf, and the Guardian’s analysis of the same day notes Payne remains close to the King, inferring that his defence came with official sanction. That inference is the Guardian’s, not established here.
Why we used this label
On whether Spencer’s account of Charles’s words and demeanour is accurate, Payne disputes the characterisation, saying he does not recognise it and offering a contrary account of how Charles spoke about Diana in private. He does not deny the telephone call occurred or claim direct knowledge of it; his evidence is his own experience of Charles’s standing instructions years later. That is a challenge to the characterisation rather than a denial of the specific remark, which is the same label the Palace statement and Dickie Arbiter carry here.