Following Accusation About King Charles Acting ‘Giddy’ When Princess Diana Died, Some Insist He Was ‘Devastated’

It’s no secret that King Charles and Princess Diana did not have a happy marriage. They separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, a year before Diana’s tragic death in 1997. But does that mean the king held ill feelings toward his first wife and the mother of his children when she died? According to Diana’s brother, yes. According to others who knew Charles, the answer is no.

Princess Diana’s sibling, Earl Spencer, made a bombshell claim in his memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, alleging that then-Prince Charles sounded “giddily elated, like a lottery winner” during a phone call with him the night she was killed in a car crash in Paris and said, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”

The royals are not known for responding to claims made about any member of the family since there have been thousands of books written about them over the years. However, King Charles did not take this claim lying down and issued a rare response.

In a strong rebuttal, Buckingham Palace pushed back, saying, “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.” 

The statement reminded many of the one Queen Elizabeth II issued in 2021, when she insisted, “recollections may vary” following Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Response or no response, the allegation is out there and has infuriated many of Princess Diana’s fans. There are others, though, who are questioning Earl Spencer’s motives to bring this up now, nearly three decades later, and whether what he’s saying holds any truth.

Some have hit back, commenting that Earl Spencer shouldn’t be trusted because, before Diana died, she asked her brother if she could stay at their family estate, Althorp, and he told her no. Others entered the comment section, posting that Earl Spencer has profited again and again off Diana’s death and this is just “another money grab.”

Some who know the king are painting a different picture of how he acted after learning Diana had died.

Robert Jobson, who has reported on the royals for more than 35 years, including the early days with The Sun at the height of the War of the Waleses. He wrote a bestselling biography about the monarch, interviewed him twice, and traveled the world alongside him. He was also in Westminster Abbey for Diana’s funeral, in the press seats, close enough to see the expressions on the royal family’s faces when Earl Spencer delivered that unforgettable eulogy in front of the 2,000 in attendance and a global audience at home.

Jobson recalled, “Queen Elizabeth II, Spencer’s godmother, and the Queen Mother were stony-faced. Charles, flanked by his sons, looked very emotional throughout. Heartbroken. Then, sounding like rain sweeping in from outside, the applause at the end of his address swept into the abbey. The congregation joined in. The royals had to take it on the chin. No reaction.

“As Tavener’s Song for Athene was sung, Charles looked close to tears. Not a man dismissive of England’s Rose, who the world was saying goodbye to. In reality, Charles was devastated after Diana’s death.”

And photographer Arthur Edwards, who worked with the royal family for more than four decades, remembered, “I was in Paris the day Diana died and took pictures of Prince Charles accompanying her flag-covered coffin as it left hospital on her final journey. Trust me, this man who hours earlier had broken the news to his young sons that their mother had just died, was distraught.

“As far as I can see [Prince William and Prince Harry’s] uncle has not done much for them since the 1997 funeral. I covered the Earl’s divorce from his first wife Victoria — he wasn’t very nice to her. King Charles is an honorable man and would never say anything bad about Diana.”