Robert Jobson
Role at the time: Royal commentator and author of Our King: Charles III, writing a column in The Sun
Statement summary
In a column in The Sun, royal commentator and author Robert Jobson wrote that only Charles and Earl Spencer know what was said on the phone call and that Charles was “devastated after Diana’s death.” He also wrote that Charles “can have a filthy temper,” that he “can say things in the heat of the moment,” and that “it shouldn’t be dismissed that this could have been said.” He concluded that “The King is not a cruel man” and that the comment Spencer says he heard “wasn’t kind.”
“In reality, Charles was devastated after Diana’s death. Now, anyone who knows King Charles knows he can have a filthy temper. It was more explosive when he was younger. He is not a vindictive man, but cross him and he can lose it. It flares up, it doesn’t last long, and he doesn’t hold grudges. He apologises soon afterwards. But he can say things in the heat of the moment, and it shouldn’t be dismissed that this could have been said. Funerals are one of the most emotional times for any family, royal or not.”
Why we used this label
On whether Spencer’s account of Charles’s words and demeanour after Diana’s death is accurate, Jobson does not deny that Charles may have said it: he writes that Charles “can say things in the heat of the moment” and that it “shouldn’t be dismissed that this could have been said.” He also rejects the portrait of a callous Charles, saying Charles was “devastated” and “not a cruel man.” Because he neither confirms nor refutes the account and takes different positions on the remark’s plausibility and on Charles’s state of mind, the statement is “Mixed or conditional”. The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”, which loses because he concedes the remark is plausible rather than only disputing its portrayal.