Robert Hardman
Role at the time: Journalist and royal biographer, interviewed on Times Radio by Ed Vaizey
Challenged the characterization
Statement summary
Royal author Robert Hardman told Times Radio he did not accept the “giddily elated” characterisation, citing Charles’s visible emotion at the funeral, while acknowledging that it is how Spencer remembers the exchange.
“The person who was most visibly moved, the most emotional person in that entire funeral was Prince Charles. So this idea that he’s elated, that he’s somehow, you know, giddily dancing around the room, I’m afraid I don’t buy it. But that’s how Charles Spencer remembers it. So that’s his view. But the king clearly remembers it very differently.”
Watch the original video (opens in a new tab)Times Radio: Robert Hardman on Earl Spencer’s “giddily elated” claim02:42–03:03.
Why we used this label
On Hardman rejects the accuracy of Spencer’s characterisation of Charles’s demeanour, offering his own observation of the funeral as counter-evidence. He stops short of alleging invention, expressly allowing that this is how Spencer remembers it and framing the disagreement as two differing recollections, which keeps it within “Challenged the characterization” rather than condemns.