Why did Earl Spencer publish his book now? How has the reception been? Does the king agree with his viewpoints?

Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer and younger brother of the late Princess Diana, published Swan Song: Diana, My Sister today through Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The publication was timed ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana's death in August 2027. Spencer himself has explained the motivation plainly: with the anniversary in view, he was "again declining endless, repeated requests" to appear in documentaries about his sister, and decided it was better to write down his own account once and for all, on his own terms, before the anniversary made the conversation impossible to escape.

The memoir covers the siblings' childhood, their upbringing at the Spencer family estate, their parents' divorce, Diana's marriage, her rise to global prominence, her humanitarian work, and the media scrutiny surrounding her personal life. It marks the first time Spencer has spoken openly and at length about his sister.

The claim that set off a royal firestorm

The book landed in the middle of an already-erupting controversy. Spencer alleges he argued with then-Prince Charles over palace plans for Prince William and Prince Harry, then 15 and 12, to walk behind their mother's coffin during her 1997 funeral procession. He says he told Charles that Diana would not have wanted her boys to endure the ordeal, and claims the prince "went ballistic" and told him: "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough." Spencer also accuses Charles of having "contempt" for his ex-wife and of sounding "elated" after her death.

King Charles III did not let that stand quietly. Buckingham Palace issued a rare and unusually forceful denial after the claim became public. The Palace's statement read: "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, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss." In other words, the Palace's position is that Spencer's grief may have distorted what he remembers, not that Charles is too polite to respond. They described the alleged remark as "entirely out of character for a man with a deeply compassionate nature, who at the time was dealing with his own grief and that of their two sons."

How critics and readers are responding

The literary reception has been warm even where the personal questions are complicated. The Times praised the book's "searing frankness, framed in wistfully beautiful prose," while the Daily Telegraph called Spencer "acutely observant" with a "delightful" turn of phrase. The Financial Times called it "a moving, heartbreaking memoir" and the Washington Post called it "a tour de force." One Goodreads reader put it bluntly: "no matter how lousy Charles Spencer is as a person, he's a pretty good historian and author."

The uproar among the British public and press has been fierce, and Charles has been criticized for allegedly making such a cruel comment about his ex-wife, who remains a beloved icon in the UK. The book has also drawn attention for what it may signal about a wider pattern: the timing coincides with Prince Harry's return to the UK after almost six years and the upcoming 30th anniversary of Diana's passing.

The core dynamic here is timeless and has nothing to do with royalty. When people wait decades to tell a story, the anniversary is rarely the only reason. It is usually that something inside has finally shifted, the certainty that silence costs more than speaking. Spencer clearly reached that point, and he published. Whether what he remembers is exactly what happened, only he and the King know. What is certain is that the conversation Diana's death never fully closed has been cracked open again.