Spencer Book on Diana Ignites Fresh Royal Dispute

A new memoir by Charles Spencer, brother of the late Princess Diana, has revived a long-simmering dispute with the British royal family, drawing a rare public response from Buckingham Palace.

In "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," published Tuesday, Spencer writes that he argued with the then-Prince Charles over palace plans for Princes William and Harry, then 15 and 12, to walk behind their mother's coffin during her 1997 funeral procession. Spencer says he told Charles that Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris at 36, would not have wanted her sons to endure the ordeal. He alleges the prince "went ballistic" and told him, "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough." Spencer further accuses Charles of holding "contempt" for his ex-wife and of sounding "elated" after her death.

After excerpts appeared last week, Buckingham Palace issued a strongly worded statement, unusual for a household known for measured language. "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.

Spencer has stood by his account, telling the BBC he is telling the truth. Of the palace response, he asked: "Is he furious? Is he furious or is he embarrassed?"

Charles, then 32, married 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in 1981. They divorced in 1996, and he later married Camilla Parker Bowles, now Queen Camilla.

Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, has long clashed with the royals over their treatment of his sister. In a eulogy at her funeral, he vowed that her "blood family" would carry on her legacy in raising her sons — a speech widely seen as a swipe at the monarchy. At the time, many felt Queen Elizabeth II and the royals were slow to acknowledge the global grief and out of touch with public feeling. The royals have spent decades moving past that crisis, and the warmer public style of William, Harry and, in recent years, the king is part of that legacy.

In the book, Spencer also criticizes the royals for what he calls a "lack of obvious care" for the then 12-year-old Harry, describing his nephew as "tiny, and slight, and bereft" after the funeral. "He needed Diana's hugs, of course, and they would forever be denied him," he writes. "But instead of calm and nurture, he was allowed to spin out of control."

Some critics have questioned why Spencer chose to revisit the trauma decades on. He said he wanted to record his own thoughts and memories "once and for all, rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others, many of which are based on untruths." Asked whether the press treatment of Harry and his wife, Meghan, echoes that of his sister, Spencer told the BBC: "(Diana) was really brought low by all that criticism. I suppose it's a pity when I see echoes of that now."

Penguin Press said the book will be published globally and translated into 12 languages.