Prince Charles called Charles Spencer ‘lucky’ after Johnny Spencer’s funeral

We’re going to be talking about Charles Spencer’s Swan Song for a long time, and we’re going to talk about Spencer’s book promotion all week. There’s a lot to get through, and there are just so many headlines and significant stories, some about Princess Diana and some about King Charles and the state of the monarchy. The Earl Spencer also mentioned, in passing, that he held back some information and some stories about the king because they weren’t necessarily relevant at this time. Certainly sounds like an implied threat, something like “I haven’t even gone nuclear yet, I could say a lot more.” Speaking of, Spencer did mention one bonkers story in Swan Song about the death of his father, Johnny Spencer. When Johnny Spencer died, Charles Spencer became the new Earl Spencer just shy of 28. Diana and then-Prince Charles obviously attended Johnny Spencer’s funeral, and Charles Spencer now writes about what his brother-in-law said to him:

The future king stamped his foot and behaved like a ‘petulant child’ during an extraordinary conversation with Earl Spencer more than 30 years ago, Princess Diana’s brother claims. The earl claims that on the day of his father’s funeral in April 1992, a frustrated Prince Charles told him that he was ‘so lucky’ to be inheriting the vast Spencer estate while he was still in his twenties.

The then Prince of Wales allegedly complained that, in contrast, his parents, the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, were treating him ‘like a child’.

‘At this he stamped his foot in emphasis,’ Earl Spencer writes in his forthcoming memoir. ‘I have to say, very much like a child; and a petulant one, at that.’

The bizarre exchange took place after the death of John Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer. At that point Charles Spencer, then aged 27, inherited the family’s 13,000-acre estate at Althorp, Northamptonshire, as the 9th earl.

Charles Spencer, now 62, recalls how after his father’s funeral service at a church in Northamptonshire, he, along with Prince Charles and Princess Diana gathered ‘rather awkwardly’ in Althorp’s oak-panelled tapestry sitting room.

He writes: ‘I shared that I had found it so moving to see my father’s coffin being borne into the church by his six longest-serving male members of staff that I had started to cry. Then Prince Charles suddenly said: ‘You’re so lucky!’ I was unsure if I had heard him right. ‘I’m sorry, sir?’

‘You’re just so lucky – you know, inheriting when you’re so young!’ ‘

Earl Spencer claims that, ‘warming to his theme’, Prince Charles then added: ‘You’re inheriting this place in your twenties. And, I mean, I’m 43…and I employ 50 people… but my parents insist on treating me like – like a child!’

[From The Daily Mail]

This is one story the current king can’t even deny, since he spent forty years as a petulant man-baby wanting the big job and the crown. Everyone knew that about King Charles too, even other royal houses. It’s even funnier to consider QEII’s thoughts on her heir – QEII, much like Diana, thought Charles would be a terrible king. That’s why QEII held onto the throne with both hands for as long as possible. And here’s the thing – I don’t honestly blame then-Prince Charles for having this thought, that his brother-in-law is “lucky” to inherit so young. It’s one thing to have that thought – it’s quite another to say that out loud just after Johnny Spencer’s funeral.

Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, recounted “a peculiar conversation” he shared with then-Prince Charles following his father’s death. He recalled being told how lucky he was “to have inherited so young,” after becoming the 9th Earl Spencer.

Watch more from their… pic.twitter.com/lmaRsDxxwL

— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) September 19, 2026

If I were Charles Windsor, I’d sit my arse down, keep quiet and be grateful Charles Spencer didn’t disclose the many scandals he could have. 👀

“This is not a threat, it’s a fact. I know lots of things about the King which I chose not to include in the book because they were not… pic.twitter.com/G9kkjlhLSP

— Senior Lieutenant Zandi Sussex (@ZandiSussex) September 21, 2026

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.