Diana book sparks royal row between King Charles and Earl Spencer - The Latest
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What new allegations does Earl Spencer’s memoir make about King Charles after Diana’s death?
This is the Guardian.
I think what we may be seeing is the end of the never complain, never explain era. Really, it's taken in those intervening decades to undergo something of a image rehabilitation. Obviously, when Harry and Meghan came back to the UK, with them comes the media circus. Wherever they go, headlines uh tend to follow. Story breaking, a memoir being published, you know, it can plunge the royal family back. to a place where they're mired in scandal.
From The Guardians Today and Focus, this is the latest with me, Lucy Hoff. We've got yet another royal family drama playing out involving this very controversial and highly publicised memoir from Earl Spencer, the brother of Princess Diana. Aaron Sharp, you're our senior national news editor. It revolves specifically around these remarks that are alleged to have been made by the then Prince Charles around the time of Diana's death. What's been said? Yeah.
This uh book will and and does revisit one of the most painful chapters in the recent history of the royal family, and as you rightly say, revolves around the time of Diana's death, and in particular the preparation for her funeral. Um, the conversation that's outlined in the book is one between L.
How did Buckingham Palace break its usual silence to respond to the memoir’s claims?
Spencer, Diana's younger brother, and Prince Charles, as he was then her former husband, King Charles as he is. Now, yeah And there's a discussion about whether or not the sons of Charles and Diana Harry and William should walk behind the coffin during the funeral. Charles, now the king, was very supportive of the idea that they should, in fact, insistent that they should. Uh their uncle L. Spencer felt very differently and So the book says this resulted in an almighty row between the two, and that row came to its conclusion with some pretty devastating language, allegedly, from the now king.
Yeah. And that line being specifically, Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough. Uh he hissed is is how that's phrased in in Earl Spencer's memoir. So it's uh pretty damning stuff. And I think, you know, playing into that row is what people might remember from Princess Diana's funeral, where Earl Spencer stood up and spoke about her treatment at the hands of the media that she was one of the most hunted women of her generation and perhaps, you know, that revolving aw around wanting to protect Harry and William from the same treatment at the hands of the press. Uh it it's quite unusual, in fact it's it's it's very unusual for Buckingham Palace to comment on something like this.
Why is the palace’s strong statement seen as the end of the ‘never complain, never explain’ era?
Like when Prince Harry published his very uh controversial and very damning memoir spare Where the palace said absolutely nothing and said by protocol we do not talk about books of this nature. But in contrast, they have issued a very strongly worded statement to to this. Why do you think that is?
Yeah, I I think what we may be seeing is the end of the never complain, never explain era, which was famously the maxim of Queen Elizabeth, uh the way that she dealt with negative stories in the press. Uh the king was very quick to respond to the allegations outlined in the book. He said, While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, his majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, effect judgment, and colour memory, which for the royal household is quite a striking rebuke to the claims which are outlined in the book.
Yeah, yeah. The only other comparable phrase is recollections may vary after the Oprah Winfrey interview with Harry and Meghan, which has become part of my sort of daily parlance in quite a useful way. So thank you for that, Buckingham Palace. I think the strength of that statement sort of is because it brings us back to a time, nineteen ninety seven, the year of Diana's death, where the then Prince Charles was profoundly Unpopular. Princess Diana was an adored figure who died so suddenly, the whole nation was sort of plunged into grief. The royal family were very criticized at that time.
What historical controversies around Diana’s funeral still affect the royal family today?
Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister, described her as the people's princess.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What new allegations does Earl Spencer’s memoir make about King Charles after Diana’s death?
0:00–1:26
2
How did Buckingham Palace break its usual silence to respond to the memoir’s claims?
1:26–2:48
3
Why is the palace’s strong statement seen as the end of the ‘never complain, never explain’ era?
2:48–4:17
4
What historical controversies around Diana’s funeral still affect the royal family today?
4:17–5:38
5
How does the timing of the memoir relate to Prince Harry and Meghan’s return to the UK?
5:38–7:19
6
What impact could the memoir’s revelations have on King Charles’s image and succession plans?
7:19–9:11
7
Why do new royal scandals keep resurfacing whenever Harry and Meghan appear in the media?
9:11–10:22
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Today in Focus
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