Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are the only royally adjacent people causing the Royal Family headaches.
Days after having to remind senior government officials and the British public that the Sussexes are nothing more than private citizens, Buckingham Palace was forced to deny claims reportedly made in a forthcoming book by Princess Diana’s brother.
The Daily Mail got its hands on excerpts from Charles Spencer’s new book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which is due to be published next week, and it appears to be chock full of salacious details about his late sister, her ex-husband King Charles III, and more.
The Palace Responds
The allegation that got the palace to respond involved what then-Prince Charles supposedly said about his ex-wife soon after her death. According to Spencer, he told the prince that Diana would not have wanted her sons–Princes William and Harry, who were 15 and 12 respectively at the time–to walk behind her coffin during the funeral procession that followed her tragic death in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36.
In response, Spencer claimed Charles told him: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.” He also accused the monarch of having “contempt” for Diana and of sounding “elated” after her death.
The claim clearly did not sit well with the palace, which released a statement late Wednesday. “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,” it said.
Other Revelations
Charles, then 32, married 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer in a lavish ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1981. They separated in 1992 before divorcing in 1996. The trouble between the couple has been well reported over the years, as has the strained family dynamic between Diana and her brother, the 9th Earl Spencer.
Some of the latter can be gleaned from Spencer’s bizarre retelling of how he learned of his sister’s death. He said he was asleep when he got a call from his other sister, Lady Jane Fellows, that Diana had been in an accident. He said he initially thought she had maybe broken a leg, but things took a turn as he listened to Jane’s husband, the queen’s private secretary, in the background.
Spencer said he heard his brother-in-law exclaim “Oh no!” in a way that sounded “high-bellowed, half-sighed in disbelief.” And then came his sister’s eyebrow-raising reaction. “Jane, witnessing the completeness of his shock, relayed to me, in a soft voice: ‘That’s it… it’s curtains… Duch is dead.”
“Duch”–short for duchess–was a nickname Spencer had for his sister, while she called him “Carlos.” The excerpts reveal he also used the book to share intimate details about “more than one occasion” in which Diana allegedly contemplated taking her own life. He also discussed her ongoing struggles with eating disorders.
Another tidbit involving King Charles has also made headlines. It involved Spencer’s recollection of how his sister told him she was planning a divorce. Over lunch at San Lorenzo in London, Spencer wrote, “She looked down at the table and said, ‘Carlos, I’m going to get divorced.’“
“I was silent for a moment. I had known things were bad, but not this bad,” he continued. “‘Well, Duch,’ I carefully replied, ‘you of course have my full support… I know you’ll have thought this through. But my main worry is the public. I fear they won’t forgive you. They’ve bought into a fairytale, and I reckon they may well — wrongly — blame you for destroying their fantasy.’ ”
“She looked up at me, nodded, and said quietly: ‘But, Carlos, my husband is in love with his valet.’ I gulped. ‘Well, I guess, in that case, you really don’t have a choice,’“ he continued.
The staffer was not named.
The Harry Connection
This latest royal headache also contains a potential Harry and Meghan connection. Before the pair announced they were returning to live in the U.K., they paid a visit over the summer and spent time at Althorp, the Spencer family estate where the earl resides.
Page Six reported Harry was “made well aware” of his uncle’s bombshell claims ahead of time and the book was discussed when they spent time together in July. Other outlets suggest Harry knew of the book but not its contents.
On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Maureen Callahan, host of MK Media’s The Nerve, to discuss the shocking revelations in the book and whether Harry and Spencer could be coordinating to hurt the Royal Family. Watch:
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Callahan by tuning in to episode 1,401 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.