Charles Spencer has revealed that King Charles III demanded to walk directly behind Princess Diana’s casket at her 1997 funeral despite their bitter split three years earlier.
The 9th Earl of Spencer, 62, makes the claim in his forthcoming memoir “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” excerpts of which were published by the outlet on Thursday. He wrote that the then-Prince of Wales was “adamant” about his position in the procession even though, as Spencer pointed out, “an ex is never expected to act as chief mourner at their former spouse’s funeral.”
“It is hard to see why, given his feelings for Diana,” Spencer added in the book.
According to Spencer, Queen Elizabeth II’s deputy privacy secretary, Sir Robin Janvrin, told the funeral committee that Spencer “must be persuaded to walk” alongside Charles behind the casket. Spencer said this directive came “out of fear” that if Charles walked alone, the public “might shout abuse at him.”
The committee concluded that if Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, then 12, joined their father and uncle, “that would surely guarantee against insults flying,” Spencer wrote.
The day before the September 1997 funeral, Colonel Malcolm Ross, head of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office at the time, called Spencer with new terms. William and Harry had agreed to walk behind their mother’s casket on one condition: their grandfather, Prince Philip, would join them.
“I replied that I was fine with this,” Spencer wrote, “while making a handwritten note of my proviso: ‘as long as they are not being dragooned’ into doing so. I was assured by Colonel Ross that this was not the case.”
Spencer maintained his opposition to the princes participating, which prompted an angry phone call from Charles. “I gather you’ve got a problem with the funeral arrangements,” Charles allegedly said. Spencer described the ensuing exchange as a “stream of anger” from his former brother-in-law.
Ultimately, Spencer, Charles, Philip, William and Harry all walked the route from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey during the funeral procession. Spencer later delivered a 12-minute eulogy in which he called his sister “the most hunted person of the modern age.”
The memoir also revisits the collapse of Charles and Diana’s marriage, which began with their 1981 wedding, separation in 1992, and divorce in 1996. Both parties had extramarital affairs, with Charles’ relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, now Queen Camilla, becoming the most notorious.
In perhaps his most explosive claim, Spencer wrote that after Diana’s death, Charles allegedly vowed that his ex-wife would be forgotten “soon enough.”
Buckingham Palace fired back at Spencer’s account on Wednesday. “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,” a palace spokesperson said in a statement.
The allegations did not come as a surprise to at least one member of the family. A source said that Prince Harry, 42, knew about his uncle’s book claims and they were not “a shock” to the Duke of Sussex.
Charles and Diana’s marriage had been plagued by tension for years before their official separation, with both parties eventually acknowledging infidelities. Their divorce was finalized just one year before Diana’s death in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997, alongside her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul.
The funeral procession, with its image of two young princes walking solemnly behind their mother’s coffin, became one of the most searing visual moments of the decade. Both William and Harry have spoken in subsequent years about the psychological weight of that walk, with Harry in particular describing the difficulty of performing such a public duty while grieving.
“Swan Song: Diana, My Sister” will be published on September 22.