Earl Spencer Repeats Claim Charles Hissed 'We'll Forget Her Soon Enough'

Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer and brother of the late Princess Diana, has repeated his account of a confrontation with King Charles III over arrangements for Diana's funeral, saying the then-prince told him the family would forget her.

In an interview aired Monday on "Good Morning America," Spencer discussed his new book, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," which recounts the days after Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36. Extracts from the book are being published by the British tabloid the Daily Mail, and it is due to be published on Tuesday.

Spencer alleges he argued with his sister's former husband over palace plans for Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk behind their mother's coffin during the funeral procession. He says he told the then-Prince Charles that Diana would not have wanted her sons to undergo the ordeal.

Recalling the exchange, Spencer said he would never forget five words — "we'll forget her soon enough" — and claimed Charles did not say them but hissed them. Asked how he felt about the remark, he said it was not every day one is gaslit by a king, adding that he was upset because he found the response condescending and not straight. He said his own account was straight and true, and that the reply did not deny he had said it.

Spencer also said he had not held back in the book, but could have gone much further, describing that as a statement rather than a threat. He said everything he wrote was essential to the narrative and to understanding his subject, and that people had asked whether he was bitter or angry. "I'm really not, I'm not," he said.

Spencer has long spoken out about the treatment of his sister. On the day she died, he issued a highly critical statement about the media's role in the tragedy.

In the same interview, he addressed his nephew Prince Harry and Harry's wife Meghan. The couple gave up their royal duties and moved to California more than six years ago, and have recently moved back to the UK with their two children to make a fresh start. Harry and Meghan have expressed interest in reconciliation with the royal family.

"Everyone who cares about people in a family rift hopes it will be healed," Spencer said, adding that his wish was for Harry and Meghan to get a gentler time ahead wherever they choose to live.