A fresh royal row is unfolding in Britain, and it centres on the most enduring trauma in the modern monarchy: the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Charles Spencer, Diana's younger brother, alleges in his forthcoming memoir that King Charles III sounded 'giddily elated' on the night she died in a Paris car crash, and that days later he told Spencer: 'Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough.'
The claims appear in 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister', out next week and currently being serialised in the Daily Mail. Spencer, who famously spoke at Diana's funeral, also writes that there were figures inside the Palace who were 'relieved, indeed pleased' that she had gone, and that Charles berated him by phone when Spencer argued that his nephews — William, then 15, and Harry, then 12 — should not have to walk behind their mother's coffin.
What makes this instalment notable is the Palace's reaction. Buckingham Palace almost never comments on books, yet it issued an unusually pointed statement within hours, suggesting that 'the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory'. Royal editors read the speed and sharpness of the response as a sign of genuine anger inside the institution — and an expectation that further extracts are still to come. Julian Payne, Charles's former communications chief, told the BBC the quoted language was simply not something he recognised from his old boss.
For context: Diana died aged 36 in August 1997 when her car, speeding away from paparazzi in Paris, crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel. The public grief that followed — and the perception that the royals were slow to show empathy — marked a turning point for the monarchy. Charles and Diana's marriage, from 1981 to 1996, played out almost entirely in the newspapers, and interest has never really faded. Adding to the buzz, Diana's black 'revenge dress' from 1994, worn the night Charles publicly admitted adultery, goes under the hammer in New York this December.
Why does this matter to travellers? Britain's royal story is one of the country's biggest draws, and Diana remains woven into the London visitor experience — from the golden gates of Kensington Gardens outside her former home to the memorial walk and the touching tributes left at the tunnel site in Paris. This book will likely shape the conversations guides hear and the exhibitions visitors see for months, and it lands just as Harry is back in Britain, keeping the family drama firmly in the headlines. Anyone planning a London trip with royal sights on the list will find this chapter of the story impossible to avoid — and, frankly, worth knowing.
Full story credited to Japan Today.