Is Earl Spencer's book out? what is the book about

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister was published by Penguin Random House (through its Michael Joseph imprint) in the United Kingdom, timed ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana's death in August 2027. It will be translated into 12 languages.

What it covers

The memoir chronicles the siblings' childhood, including their upbringing at the Spencer family estate, their parents' divorce, and their early education. It also examines Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, her rise to global prominence, her humanitarian work, and the media scrutiny surrounding her personal life.

The explosive claims

This is where the book has made headlines. Spencer makes a series of damning claims about King Charles III, prompting an unprecedented response from Buckingham Palace.

The biggest ones:

• King Charles sounded "giddily elated" after Diana's death. In the phone call, Spencer says Charles "sounded giddily elated, like a lottery winner," and Spencer claims he suspects the prince's first reaction was to think about how the event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not.

• "We'll forget her soon enough." Spencer claims the prince told him: "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough."

• Diana tried to end the engagement. Spencer details his sister's unhappy relationship with the then-Prince of Wales, and claims Diana tried to break off the engagement after Charles Spencer had shown "next to no interest in her." Spencer wrote that Diana went to see their father and told him she could not go through with marriage to a man who clearly did not love her, but their father refused to allow her to break the engagement.

• Charles admitted he was not in love with her. On the day before their wedding, Charles told Diana "she needed to know that he was very happy to marry her, but he was not actually in love with her," Spencer wrote, citing a story his sister told him.

The fallout

Piers Morgan is pursuing legal action against Spencer, calling passages in Swan Song defamatory and questioning Spencer's claims about King Charles III's reaction to Diana's death. Spencer has apologized to Morgan for a factual error in the memoir, but stands by his account of the phone conversation. Morgan has said he will pursue legal action against Spencer and his publisher, demanding that the false passages be removed, the book withdrawn from sale and pulped, with any potential damages paid to the King's Trust.

Even before publication, the book caused chaos: multiple copies of the memoir were stolen in a lorry robbery in the Netherlands, with Dutch authorities investigating after a lorry carrying thousands of copies was broken into at a lay-by.

How it has been received

Tom Peck of The Times described the book as having "mainly outrageous and unprovable accusations" against Diana's ex-husband, while Alexandra Jacobs, writing in The New York Times, described it as an "elegant and reproving" memoir, noting its affectionate portrayal of Diana and vivid accounts of their childhood, while highlighting Spencer's criticism of members of the royal family and the press.

As Spencer himself wrote about finishing it:

"That is exactly what I wanted and needed to say, and she would, I reckon, have approved of every word."