Swan Song: Diana, My Sister Controversies Explained

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is Charles Spencer’s 2026 memoir about his older sister Diana, Princess of Wales, and the events surrounding her life, troubled marriage, death and funeral.

The book generated controversy before its September 22 publication because Spencer makes a series of highly personal allegations about King Charles III and the Royal Family, including that Charles sounded unusually upbeat after Diana died, allegedly predicted that she would soon be forgotten and clashed bitterly with Spencer over whether Princes William and Harry should walk behind their mother’s coffin.

Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of responding publicly, suggesting that Spencer’s grief may have affected his judgment and memory. Royal commentators have separately accused Spencer of presenting an unfairly hostile picture of Charles, while Spencer says the purpose of the book is to give his own truthful account of his sister’s life rather than allow other people to define her story.

What Is Swan Song: Diana, My Sister?

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is Charles Spencer’s first book devoted at length to Diana’s life and their relationship as brother and sister. Penguin Press describes it as the story of Diana’s life and death told from Spencer’s perspective and says it includes his account of the week following her fatal 1997 car crash. [Penguin Random House]

The book is scheduled for publication in the United States and United Kingdom on September 22, 2026, with editions planned around the world. [Penguin Random House]

Why Did Charles Spencer Write The Diana Memoir?

Spencer says the approaching 30th anniversary of Diana’s August 31, 1997 death convinced him to put his own memories into a book. He said he was being inundated with requests for interviews and preferred to record his account himself rather than continue reading other people’s interpretations of his sister. [The Guardian]

Spencer said his goal was to tell what he considers the truth about Diana from a brother’s perspective, similar to what he attempted to do in his famous eulogy at Westminster Abbey. [People]

Spencer Claims King Charles Said Diana Would Soon Be Forgotten

The most controversial allegation concerns a phone call between Spencer and then-Prince Charles during the preparations for Diana’s funeral. Spencer claims Charles became angry while the two men argued over the funeral procession and eventually told him that Diana would soon be forgotten. [Associated Press] [People]

Spencer writes that he interpreted the alleged remark as reflecting resentment toward Diana and disbelief at the extraordinary public reaction to her death. [The Guardian]

No recording of the private conversation has been made public. The allegation rests on Spencer’s recollection of a phone call that occurred nearly three decades ago.

Buckingham Palace Issued A Rare Response

Buckingham Palace responded directly after excerpts containing the allegation were published. A palace spokesperson said the King recognizes that the pain of losing a sibling can affect reason, judgment and memory even many years later. [Reuters]

The statement did not provide an alternative transcript of the conversation, but its wording clearly challenged the reliability of Spencer’s account. The intervention was notable because the Palace generally avoids detailed responses to books about members of the Royal Family. [Associated Press]

Spencer Says Charles Sounded “Like A Lottery Winner” After Diana Died

Spencer makes another striking allegation about an earlier telephone call immediately after Diana’s death. He writes that Charles sounded unusually animated compared with the other people who called him and says his impression at the time was that the Prince sounded “like a lottery winner.” [Reuters]

Spencer now speculates that Charles may initially have viewed Diana’s death partly through the effect it could have on his future relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom Charles eventually married in 2005. [Reuters]

That explanation is Spencer’s interpretation of Charles’ tone and motives, not an independently established account of what Charles was thinking.

The Palace Disputes Spencer’s Picture Of Charles After Diana’s Death

The palace response effectively challenges Spencer’s portrayal of Charles as emotionally detached or pleased by Diana’s death. The Washington Post described Buckingham Palace as rejecting Spencer’s characterization and pointing directly to the effect grief can have on memory. [Washington Post]

Royal commentators defending Charles have also pointed to his role in bringing Diana’s body back from Paris and participating in the arrangements for her funeral as evidence that the situation was more complicated than Spencer’s description suggests.

Angela Levin Accused Spencer Of Portraying Charles As “Nasty”

Royal biographer Angela Levin publicly criticized Spencer’s account after the first excerpts appeared. She argued that presenting Charles as uncaring toward Diana was unfair and said that the failure of their marriage did not mean Charles hated his former wife. [Reality Tea]

Levin pointed specifically to Charles’ efforts to travel to Paris and return Diana’s body to Britain after her death. Her comments are an interpretation and defense of Charles, not an independent determination of what occurred during the disputed private conversations. [Reality Tea]

The Funeral Procession Is At The Center Of The Dispute

Spencer says the bitter phone argument concerned whether Diana’s sons William and Harry should walk behind her coffin. William was 15 and Harry was 12 when their mother died. [People]

Spencer says he strongly objected because he believed requiring the grieving boys to participate in the long public procession was inappropriate and potentially traumatic. [The Guardian]

Spencer Claims William And Harry Were Used To Protect Charles From The Crowd

Spencer says he came to believe that palace officials wanted William and Harry in the procession partly because then-Prince Charles was determined to walk behind the coffin and officials feared he could face hostile comments from mourners. [The Guardian]

According to Spencer’s interpretation, having Diana’s young sons beside their father would discourage members of the public from shouting abuse at Charles. [The Guardian]

The Palace has not publicly confirmed that this was the reason William and Harry were included.

William Has Called The Funeral Walk A “Collective Family Decision”

Prince William’s own account does not describe the decision exactly as Spencer does. In the 2017 BBC documentary Diana, 7 Days, William said joining the procession was a difficult but collective family decision. [People]

Prince Harry later wrote in Spare that several adults objected to the plan and specifically confirmed that his uncle Charles strongly opposed making the boys walk behind their mother’s coffin. [People]

Those accounts establish that there was disagreement over the procession, although they do not independently verify every detail Spencer attributes to his telephone argument with Charles.

Spencer Says The Royal Family Rejected Diana’s Preferred Funeral Music

Spencer says he and his sisters wanted Mozart’s Requiem played at Diana’s funeral because they believed it was the music Diana had said she wanted after her death. [People]

According to Spencer, royal officials rejected the request and cited restrictions associated with the Church of England. Spencer says he later concluded that the explanation was unfounded. [People]

The allegation adds to Spencer’s broader argument that Diana’s family did not have complete control over arrangements even though Diana and Charles had divorced the previous year.

Spencer Says Queen Elizabeth II Offered To Restore Diana’s HRH

Another revelation concerns Diana’s royal style after her death. Spencer says Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore the “Her Royal Highness” designation that Diana lost following her 1996 divorce. [ITV News]

Spencer says the proposal was relayed by royal official Robert Fellowes as Diana’s remains were being taken to the Spencer family estate at Althorp. He says he rejected the idea because restoring the title after Diana’s death could no longer undo the hurt he believed losing it had caused her. [ITV News]

Spencer Says Diana Considered Canceling Her Wedding

The memoir also revisits the beginning of Charles and Diana’s marriage. Spencer claims Diana told their father approximately a month before the July 1981 wedding that she could not marry a man she believed did not love her. [ITV News]

According to Spencer, their father responded that it was effectively too late to cancel such a major royal wedding. [ITV News]

Spencer Claims Charles Told Diana He Was Not In Love With Her Before The Wedding

Spencer says Diana told people close to her that Charles made a devastating admission shortly before their marriage. According to the memoir, Charles allegedly told Diana he was happy to marry her but was not actually in love with her. [ITV News]

The alleged private conversation has not been independently documented, and Buckingham Palace has not issued a separate response to that specific claim.

The Book Reopens The Charles And Camilla Controversy

Spencer writes that Diana believed Charles entered their marriage emotionally attached elsewhere. He also recounts Diana discovering a bracelet that Charles had bought for Camilla shortly before the royal wedding. [The Guardian]

Charles later publicly acknowledged adultery during his marriage to Diana after their relationship had irretrievably broken down, and Diana famously discussed Camilla in her 1995 BBC interview.

Diana Allegedly Told Spencer Charles Was “In Love With His Valet”

One of the memoir’s most sensational passages recounts a conversation Spencer says he had with Diana as her marriage was collapsing. Spencer writes that Diana told him her husband was “in love with his valet.” [People]

Spencer does not present independently verified evidence establishing a romantic or sexual relationship with a male staff member, and the memoir passage records what he says Diana told him at the time. It therefore should not be treated as proof of such a relationship or as evidence about Charles’ sexual orientation. [People]

Spencer Links Charles’ Comments To Diana’s Eating Disorder

Spencer argues that comments Charles allegedly made about Diana’s weight contributed to her eating disorder. He recounts an incident in which Charles supposedly commented that she was becoming “chubby” and writes that Diana’s waist measurement dropped substantially between her engagement and wedding. [The Guardian]

Diana herself publicly discussed bulimia during her lifetime. Spencer’s assertion about what caused or exacerbated the condition is his interpretation of events rather than a medical finding.

The Memoir Reveals Diana’s Reported Suicidal Thoughts

Spencer writes that Diana drove to Beachy Head on more than one occasion while contemplating suicide. He says her relationship with William and Harry stopped her from acting on those thoughts. [Reuters] [ITV News]

Diana had publicly discussed self-harm and severe emotional distress before her death, but the specific Beachy Head episodes are new claims attributed to Spencer’s account.

Spencer Retrospectively Suggests Diana May Have Had ADHD

Spencer also writes that he believes Diana may have had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and traits associated with what is sometimes called rejection sensitive dysphoria. [The Guardian]

There is no publicly documented diagnosis of Diana with ADHD. Spencer’s suggestion is therefore a retrospective personal interpretation rather than a medical diagnosis.

Critics Question Whether Spencer Is Reopening Old Family Wounds

Some royal commentators have questioned why Spencer chose to disclose intensely private conversations almost 30 years after his sister’s death. Critics argue that the book renews conflict involving Charles, William and Harry and introduces claims that several of the people involved cannot fully answer because Diana and Queen Elizabeth II are dead. [Associated Press]

Spencer’s position is that decades of books and commentary have already shaped Diana’s history and that he has a legitimate reason to record the version remembered by her own brother. [Penguin Random House]

Claims That Spencer Coordinated The Book With Harry And Meghan Are Not Established

Some commentators have alleged that Spencer’s memoir forms part of an alliance with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle against King Charles. Those claims are commentary rather than an established fact about the creation of the book.

The Guardian reported that Harry was understood to have known that his uncle was writing the book before publication but was not aware of its detailed contents. No reliable evidence reviewed for this explainer establishes that Harry or Meghan wrote, edited or directed Spencer’s claims about Charles. [The Guardian]

Four Advance Copies Of Swan Song Were Stolen Before Publication

The book generated another unusual controversy when four advance copies of the Dutch edition were stolen from a delivery truck in the Netherlands shortly before publication. [People]

The books disappeared after a truck driver stopped overnight while transporting copies to a warehouse. Dutch authorities were reportedly investigating the theft. [People]

There is no verified evidence that the theft was ordered by the Royal Family or anyone connected to the disputes described in the memoir.

The Book Is Being Serialized Before Its Official Release

Many of the allegations that generated headlines before publication come from excerpts serialized by the Daily Mail rather than from readers independently reviewing the complete book. Reuters, the Associated Press, People, ITV and the Guardian subsequently reported and contextualized those excerpts. [Reuters] [Associated Press]

The distinction matters because the book’s most provocative sentences have circulated individually before the complete memoir becomes publicly available.

What Is Established About Charles And Diana’s Marriage?

Several broader facts underlying the memoir are not disputed. Charles and Diana married in 1981, separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. Their marriage experienced serious difficulties, and both later publicly acknowledged relationships outside the marriage.

Diana died at age 36 on August 31, 1997 from injuries suffered in a car crash in Paris. William and Harry, then 15 and 12, walked behind her coffin on September 6 alongside Prince Charles, Prince Philip and Charles Spencer. [Reuters]

The disputes surrounding Swan Song concern Spencer’s recollections and interpretations of private conversations, motives and events surrounding those established historical facts.

Why The Memoir Has Generated Such A Strong Reaction

The controversy is driven by the fact that Spencer is not simply writing another biography of Diana. He is an immediate family member who participated directly in her funeral arrangements and who is attributing highly damaging private remarks to Britain’s current king.

At the same time, many of the most consequential claims involve conversations for which there is no recording or neutral witness publicly available. That leaves Spencer’s recollection, the King’s rejection of his characterization and the historical record surrounding Diana as distinct pieces of evidence rather than a single uncontested version of events.