Earl Spencer/Image: Reuters
His connection to the royal family is through his sister Diana, who married the then Prince Charles in 1981.
Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s younger brother, has accused King Charles of “gaslighting” him over his recollection of an alleged conversation about Diana’s funeral, escalating a long-running dispute over how the royal family handled the aftermath of her death. Spencer has continued to stand by his account in interviews, saying he told close friends and family about the alleged remark at the time because he considered it “so monstrous”. Speaking to the BBC, he said newspaper coverage of Diana and the Sussexes could be “really, really unpleasant” and argued that people should learn from what happened to his sister. “I’m not here to speak for Harry and Meghan,” Spencer said, adding that sustained negative coverage could have a damaging effect on anyone subjected to it.
Spencer lives at Althorp, the Spencer family estate in Northamptonshire, which has been the family’s home for centuries. Spencer is the maternal uncle of Prince William and Prince Harry . Spencer has also drawn comparisons between the media treatment of Diana and the scrutiny faced by Prince Harry and Meghan. The Royal Family has continued its public engagements despite the controversy. Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.
Queen Camilla attended the first day of the festival for The Queen’s Reading Room at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire on Saturday.
Spencer, 62, made the claim while promoting his new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which revisits his relationship with Diana and the events surrounding her death in 1997. Charles Edward Maurice Spencer was born on May 20, 1964, and is the 9th Earl Spencer. He is a British peer, author and former journalist and inherited the Spencer title in 1992. Spencer himself walked behind Diana’s coffin during the 1997 procession, alongside Harry, William, Charles and Prince Philip. Spencer’s memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is being serialised in The Mail ahead of its publication on 22 September, bringing renewed attention to his recollections of Diana’s final years and funeral The latest dispute has placed Spencer and Charles on opposing sides over a private conversation that took place decades ago, with Buckingham Palace challenging the reliability of memories surrounding the period.
In an interview with The Daily Mail on Sunday, Spencer said Buckingham Palace’s response to his claims was “astonishingly provocative” because he believed it implied that he had fabricated his account without directly challenging what he said happened. “It is not every day you wake up to find you’ve been gaslit by the King,” Spencer said. He also described the Palace statement as a less effective version of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s well-known phrase, “recollections may vary”. Buckingham Palace said in response that “fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise”. Spencer has claimed that Charles told him “we’ll forget her soon enough” during an argument over the funeral arrangements.
The dispute centres on an alleged conversation about whether William and Harry should walk behind their mother’s coffin during her funeral procession. In his memoir, he also recalls the journey by train from London to Althorp after the funeral. He wrote that he was particularly concerned about Harry, who he believed needed his mother’s comfort after the events of the day. His comments come as Harry continues to speak publicly about his relationship with the British media and the scrutiny faced by him and Meghan.