Charles Spencer is lifting the veil on the royal family.
In his new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, released today, Princess Diana’s younger brother makes a series of explosive claims about the royals. Among them are allegations about King Charles III’s reportedly insensitive treatment of his former wife and his reaction to her death.
Ahead of the book’s publication, Charles issued a pointed response, suggesting that grief had affected Spencer’s judgment and recollection.
“His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss,” a representative told Page Six.
Here are the major claims outlined in Spencer’s book.
Two of Diana and Spencer’s nannies were allegedly physically abusive towards them
Spencer alleges that he and Diana endured physical abuse from two nannies during their childhood. He says the siblings never told their parents, John Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer, and Frances Spencer.
According to Spencer, one nanny struck their outstretched hands with a wooden spoon. He describes another nanny as more severe, alleging that she sometimes slammed their heads against a concrete wall outside the nursery bathroom.
“The result was dizzying, throbbing pain and bewilderment,” he writes.
Even so, Spencer says he and Diana were not “broken by the cruelty” and remained “strong-willed children.”
Charles allegedly sounded “giddily elated” when Diana died
Spencer also recalls a phone call with Charles shortly after Diana died in a 1997 car crash in Paris, France. He alleges that the prince sounded “giddily elated — like a lottery winner.”
He further claims that Charles was “strangely matter-of-fact” when saying he had already told his and Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, that their mother had died.
“Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not,” Spencer writes. He is referring to Camilla, now Queen Camilla, whom Charles married in 2005.
Princess Diana’s dad allegedly had a “romantic connection” with Queen Elizabeth
Spencer also claims that his and Diana’s father once had a “romantic connection” with Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, before she married Prince Philip in 1947.
He alleges that Lord Mountbatten, Philip’s uncle, intervened and personally ordered John Spencer to end the relationship, calling it “nonsense” that had to stop immediately.
“Perhaps Mountbatten was clearing the way for his nephew, Prince Philip,” Spencer writes.
Spencer says his father followed the order but later “loathed Mountbatten with a passion.”
Elizabeth’s shocking six-word response to hearing about Diana’s death
He also draws a comparison between what he describes as Charles’ detached response to Diana’s death and Queen Elizabeth’s alleged initial reaction to news of her daughter-in-law’s car accident: “What is she up to now?”
Spencer notes that the Queen reportedly had not yet been told that Diana had died when she made the comment.
Charles allegedly wanted his mom to abdicate the throne so he could be king
The book further claims that people close to Charles believed he wanted Elizabeth to abdicate because he was frustrated by “being a middle-age man still wanting to reign.”
Spencer alleges that the reported succession tensions spilled into the royal household, creating friction between Elizabeth’s staff and Charles’ staff during Diana’s funeral.
Spencer also alleges that on the day of his dad’s funeral, Charles told him he was “lucky” that his father died early. John died at age 68 of a heart attack in 1992.
He alleges Charles told him during an akward conversation, “You’re just so lucky — you know, inheriting when you’re so young!”
He claims Charles then proceeded to throw a tantrum about his parents treating him like a child despite him being 43 years old, even allegedly stomping his foot in emphasis.
Charles allegedly vowed Diana would be forgotten ‘soon enough’
Spencer claims Charles later threw another tantrum years later over him not wanting William and Harry to walk behind Diana’s coffin at her funeral, which Charles wanted them to do.
He claims they had an angry phone call, in which he accused the Spencer family of having “no sense of duty.”
“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,” Spencer writes. “’Rest assured,’” he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!’”
William and Harry were 15 years old and 12 years old, respectively, at the time, and ended up walking behind their mother’s coffin alongside Charles, Spencer and Philip.
Diana made an eerie comment just 2 months ahead of her death
CHECK THIS OUT: The biggest half-time leads in Premier League history – NewsFinale
Spencer says the last time he saw Diana was on her 36th birthday, when they ran into each other unexpectedly while having dinner at London’s Tate Gallery.
He writes that earlier that day, Diana made a comment about her home looking like a funeral parlor after a family member gave her flowers for her birthday.
He recalls Diana joking, “I’ve been so lucky! My house is so full of gorgeous flowers that the place looks like a funeral parlour!”
Spencer then observes, “Now here I was, just two months later, trying to write something suitable for her funeral.”
Diana wanted to pull out of marrying Charles but was forced to go through with it by their dad
Spencer writes Diana was heartbroken when it became obvious Charles did not love her ahead of their wedding day.
He alleges that during Charles’ younger brother Prince Andrew’s 21st birthday celebration, instead of Charles spending time with her, he ignored her, leaving Diana “deeply hurt, confused and increasingly concerned.”
After the party, Spencer claims Diana told their dad that she could not marry Charles when he obviously didn’t love her, but he told her it was impossible to pull out at that point.
Later, Spencer alleges that Diana confided in a close friend that the day before her 1981 wedding to Charles, her husband-to-be bluntly told her that while he was happy to marry her, he was not in love with her.
“Diana had to absorb that hammer blow while also feeling certain that Prince Charles was entering their marriage with his heart elsewhere,” he writes.
Diana allegedly contemplated suicide
Spencer muses that like him, his sister suffered from Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), which he describes as intense emotional pain at being rejected or criticized.
He notes that negative tabloid reports greatly affected her and claims that in her later years, she drove herself multiple times to Beachy Head, the highest cliff in England, “while contemplating ending it all.”
He says her love for her sons is what stopped her.
He believes Diana had undiagnosed ADHD
Aside from Spencer believing Diana had undiagnosed RSD, he also says he’s “convinced” she had Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
He notes that Diana struggled with learning difficulties in the classroom growing up, but was never tested for anything.
He writes that as early as kindergarten, her teacher noted that she had a short attention span and was unable to focus. He says that her later teachers made similar observations about her, noting she had difficulty concentrating which “hampers her progress.”
Diana allegedly slapped her dad after he secretly married his second wife
Spencer alleges that Diana was so angry that their dad married his second wife, Raine McCourquodale, that she slapped him in the face.
According to Spencer, he and Diana had accepted their dad’s previous girlfriends after their parents divorced in 1969, but they “intensely disliked” Raine, whom he calls a “gold-digger.”
He alleges that after Diana found out about the 1976 secret marriage from reading a newspaper, she slapped their dad and said, “That’s for the pain you’re causing us all” — referring to her and her siblings.
Spencer alleges that after their dad suffered a stroke in 1978 and his health deteriorated, their stepmom blocked his children from him, instructing his nurses to stop them from seeing him.
One of Diana’s post-divorce suitors was allegedly an American politician
Though he doesn’t name names, Spencer says Diana told him that “one of her powerful, ageing American suitors” wanted her as the ultimate trophy wife.
The politician allegedly told Diana that he for sure would win the presidency if she married him.
Charles writes that Diana was “titillated” by the idea of possibly becoming the First Lady of the US more than she was excited about the “elderly” man trying to win her affections.
One of Charles’ right-hand men allegedly leaked lied about him to the press
Spencer claims that a friend who runs a PR agency told him that one of Charles’ right-hand men frequently asked him to spread lies about him to newspapers.
He also accuses a powerful editor of encouraging the outlet as well as other newspapers to attack him with negative press any chance they got.
Spencer says the stories damaged his reputation to the point where he repeatedly thought about suicide.
He writes, “I fell back on one thought: Diana had had it much, much worse, and she had kept going.”
After Charles, 77, hit back the allegations in the book, Spencer, 62, doubled down on his claims in his interview with the BBC, insisting he’s “telling the truth” about Charles’ alleged reaction to Diana’s death.
“I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said,” he stressed.
“I was hyper alert to what he was saying and those are precisely the words that he said and I promise that to you now. Genuinely, that is what he said. I don’t hear him saying he didn’t say that.”