Jacob Rees Mogg on King Charles’ BITTER row with Lord Spencer over Lady Diana claims

Welcome back to State of the Nation, where an extraordinary row has broken out between Lord Spencer and the King. Lord Spencer is publishing a story of his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, serialised in the Daily Mail, and the first thing that has come out is an accusation that the King, as he now is, said shortly after the late Princess of Wales died that she would soon be forgotten. And most unusually, the royal family, the palace, has hit back with a statement from the King very similar to what the late Queen said about recollections may vary. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said earlier this evening, This is really interesting. Pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory. Basically, the palace is saying this has been made up. And I suppose the question is, is Lord Spencer really like Prince Harry, somebody who wishes to wash family laundry in public, the dirty linen in public, who has recollections that others don't recognise, and wishes to damage a family which he is, at least to some extent, part of. Admittedly, peripherally in the case of Lord Spencer, rather than centrally in the case of Prince Harry. And the next question is, does it damage the royal family? Those of us who remember 1997 will recall that the royal family, even our beloved late Queen, became unpopular at that period, that there was a worry practically that the gates of Buckingham Palace could be stormed. The outpouring of grief, a nation that had always prided itself on its sang fa and its stiff upper lip, suddenly became emotional with wailing and gnashing of teeth outside the palaces. At that point, the late Queen handled it beautifully and made a wonderful speech that calmed everything down. But does the King need to do that? Will his words about Lord Spencer be sufficient? Or is this another problem for the monarchy piled on top of the former Prince Andrew and, of course, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, now back, stirring things up in the Cotswolds? As ever, let me know what you think. Mailmog at GBNews.com. I'm really very interested in the mailmogs on this subject. I want to know what you, the wise British people, think of what's going on with the royal family and with Lord Spencer. But I'm now joined by the royal commentator, Richard Fitzwilliams. Richard, as always, it's a pleasure to talk to you. Is Lord Spencer someone one can just dismiss as being a bit potty with clouded reason, affected judgment and coloured memory? Or is this something that the royal family has to take seriously? I'm joined now by the founder and CEO of Tally Money, Cameron Parry. So what is Tally Money and what does it do? So you get an everyday account in your individual name. You get an account number and sort code. But instead of having an account denominated in pound sterling with your bank, you have milligrams of gold, which we brand as Tally. The reason why we chose gold, everybody understands gold. It's universally understood and accepted. It's been increasing at over 11% on average for the last 25 years against the pound. In the last two years, it's up 60% against the pound. So if you had, you know, 10,000 pounds in a Tally account two years ago, it's now got 16,000 pounds worth of value. The gold hasn't changed, but the value and your purchasing power has. So banks can't keep up with that performance. How easy is it to get a Tally Money account then? If you're a UK resident, it's really easy. Just go to your app store, download the app. You'll need photo ID. You can onboard yourself in a couple of minutes. Just your passport, your driving licence. Yep. And you're up and away. So you know what you're getting. It's very simple, low fees. It's transparent. There's no hidden fees. There's no effect spreads depending on the amount you put in. And you just get to go ahead and be productive in your daily life. Build up your savings again because it's useful to do it now. I was going to say, so you're not, you don't necessarily, if people are watching this going, oh, it sounds a bit scary. You can open a Tally Money account, transfer. Is there a minimum amount you have to transfer? So you might think, I'm just going to play with this. I'm going to put a hundred quid in it that I've got this month. And I'm either going to spend it and see if I feel like I'm getting more value for money from the things that I'm buying, or I'm going to save it and watch how that compares to maybe a hundred quid in your current account. To find out more and to get an exclusive GB News offer, simply scan the QR code or click the link in the description. I think that it is something that the Royal Family obviously have taken very seriously with an extraordinary statement. There's no question that the King and rightly is absolutely furious at what I can only say, in my opinion, is very definitely memory clouded. The idea, for example, that as Prince of Wales, he would make a comment like that at that time. It's absurd. And also, I think Spencer's, the way he talks about the Prince of Wales hissing. Now, I mean, that makes him into a sort of pantomime villain. You're wondering what to take seriously in this. And there's no question at all. It could be Spencer's memory. Thinking back to the 1990s, perhaps he had feelings somewhat guilty because it is worth remembering that according to many historians, he and the late Princess of Wales were estranged when she died. He denies this. And I don't doubt that this will be revisited from his point of view in the book, which I, of course, haven't read yet. But the facts are also that when it came to Diana and the Panorama interview, which was absolutely ghoulish in the co-conception of this by Martin Bashir for the BBC's Panorama, it was Spencer who didn't check the fraudulent bank statements, which led him to faithfully introduce him. People I've spoken to who know Spencer a bit have been saying that he has had this extraordinary bile and bitterness against the royal family within him, that it came out during his eulogy for his sister at Westminster Abbey, and that's been sort of biting away at him for decades. I think that the eulogy, which was so, well, famous, infamous, there's little doubt I'm in remembering that occasion. I think it was what a lot of people thought, and there's no question that in a sense he got away with it. But I think also the fact that he has never been subsequently close to the royal family, but also not especially, to my knowledge, to Prince William. But there's no question that people will be asking, did Prince Harry know about this book and what its contents are? Will he in fact be speaking about this? Will he be reacting? I sincerely hope so, because it's a scandalous thing to say that his father made these statements. And also, the whole idea of this hits all the headlines around the world, which is what it's intended to do. But 29 years later, to cherish what I can only call hatred in this way, it is surely so destructive. It seems to be destructive. Also, is there an element of hypocrisy in it, in that Spencer is another one who quite likes privacy and then does an exclusive deal with the Daily Mail to disclose private family conversations? And is he a model of auxilial fidelity, to be in a position to criticise the king? I would suggest that your comments are absolutely accurate, because I think he's had a very controversial private life, and I think that after his eulogy in Westminster Abbey and Diana's funeral, I think a lot of this was exposed in the And indeed, he's made headlines from time to time for a variety of reasons. But he's obviously treasured this until now, because to make this statement about his sister, who was a deeply, deeply flawed individual, but was so widely loved and respected because she had this magical touch, unhappy though she was, she could reach out to others. We've heard this so many times, and everybody, I think, who remembers that period would agree. But there's little doubt that you feel there's a certain Spencer temperament here, where he almost can't restrain himself from comments, and I'm sure there'll be plenty of others in the book about the War of the Waleses, which are, quite frankly, horrible. And that does seem to be a very good point that you make, that it looks as if Spencer is of his generation, the Duke of Sussex of his generation, inability to maintain family competencies, inability to forgive and forget, and a desire to dwell on things that may not even have been said in the first place. Well, absolutely. One thinks of the Sussexes on Oprah. An interviewer I read has reported that she now rather regrets because none of the avenues which she should have pursued were pursued, and they got away with absolutely shocking untruths. But, I mean, here you've got a situation where it will be interesting to see what Prince Harry says, if anything, about this, because he's been speaking about so many topics linked to the royal family since they've stepped down as senior working royals. Now they're back here. I suspect very strongly that their timing had something to do with the publication of a book which is as explosive as this. Of course, generations since don't know Diana as, for example, we do, thinking back. But the fact that they should be introduced to her and her work, which was so remarkable, and her memory, which was also the links with the press, were deeply symbiotic. In this way, this is absolutely shocking. Yes, indeed. But I wonder what you think the British people will think. That's why I'm very keen to get the mail mogs coming in on this subject. Do you think the King's response, which does basically say that Spencer is potty, I mean, cloud, reason, effect, judgment and colour, memory, that is a very robust statement. Do you think people will be on the side of the King, or is there a residual affection, love for the late Princess of Wales that means they'll be saying to themselves, we knew this all along, we always thought he was beastly to her, she was our great heroine, and why have we got to have a royal family like this? Well, some of that, of course. I mean, there's no question the war of the Waleses was ferocious. I mean, thinking back, the Morton book and the King, well, the then Prince of Wales, his fateful interview admitting adultery to Jonathan Dimbleby, Panorama, and a whole variety of squabbles, fusing the press on both sides, it was absolutely horrible. I think that Diana's genius was, of course, in the charitable sector, and I hope people will remember her from that angle, even those who don't know a great deal about it, as far as the Sussexes are concerned, and also, of course, Andrew Madman and Windsor, a very, very difficult period for the family, and now Earl Spencer has deliberately and callously introduced this, that the King is supposed to have said when Prince of Wales that Diana would be forgotten and that he'd rubbish her memory at a time like that. I think the King is absolutely right to say Earl Spencer, quite frankly, has several screws loose, which, as you say, is precisely the interpretation of the statement. All right, well, thank you very much for joining me. What we've got in a moment is on net zero. Is the net zero scam out of control? A government climate watchdog wants to make flying on planes hundreds of pounds more expensive, adding up to £600 to a family holiday to Spain. The penal measures needed to meet net zero are making us cold and poor, and holding back economic growth.