Princess Diana would be 'FURIOUS' with brother Earl Spencer over airing private royal conversations

Well, Buckingham Palace has taken the unusual step of reacting strongly to the revelations in the book by Charles Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana, who claims in this book, which is going to be serialised in the Daily Mail, that people would forget about her very quickly. That was a phone call, yes, just after she died. Rest assured, we will forget her soon enough, is what Charles, King Charles now, King Charles, Prince Charles then, allegedly said to Earl Spencer at the time. But the palace has hit back, saying that grief has clouded the judgment and recollection of Charles Spencer. It's another recollections may vary. Now, if the Queen, never complain, never explain, that's always, we know that, that's always been the royal motto, hasn't it? Andrew, do you think if the Queen hadn't have said that over the Harry and Meghan interview, recollections may vary, do you think Charles would have been brave enough to come out with this statement? I think that was the point. The Queen said it, so he can say it, and they know that this is just day one of this book. There's going to be a lot more to come and there's going to be some pretty, I think, some robust criticism of Camilla, who Diana, of course, blamed for the collapse of her marriage. Absolutely. And as we all know, Diana wasn't perfect. She was not. You know, and it's, once again, with this entire story with the royals, it's like, it makes every soap opera on our TV look tame, doesn't it? It really does. And it's, I keep coming back to the boys. I know, I know they haven't been perfect, but it's the boys I still feel for. Yeah, absolutely. Now, let's just remind ourselves of what Earl Spencer said in that extraordinary eulogy at Princess Diana's funeral back in September 1997. It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this. A girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age. And of course, he went on to say in that eulogy that the blood family of the boys, William and Harry, would do what they could to protect them. I mean, effectively saying that they would look after the boys in the way that the royal family couldn't, because there was all that criticism, of course, that they were stuck up in Balmoral in the immediate aftermath of their death. The problem I have with that, and I'm trying not to take sides, but have you noticed that everybody is taking sides on this instantly? Yes, they always did. They always did. The problem I have with what, I mean, like you, I was there, I covered the funeral, I covered the boys walking behind their mum's coffin. But the problem with, you know, the blood family will look after you, to William and Harry, is then what did Earl Spencer do straight after that? He moved back to South Africa. Yeah, and I don't think anybody thought that he did his bit to look after them. Look, we sort of know, don't we, as well, that the king was perhaps a bit of a remote parent. Yes, of course. In the same way he was brought up. That's how he was brought up. And then you have to start blaming the Queen, who actually, one of the few things she did badly wrong, I find in her life, was the way she handled the death of Diana. Do you remember the row over whether the flag should be at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, and there was no flag flying at all because she was no longer a member of the royal family because they stripped her of HRH, which was a mistake in my view. She was going to be the Queen Mother. Yeah, it was very, very much the Queen was following protocol. Forgetting that the reaction of the whole, not just the United Kingdom, but the whole world, was in shock and mourning Diana. Or who can forget that sea of flowers outside Buckingham Palace. Every day the palace seemed to be one step behind. They seemed to be. Because they moved very slowly, and of course if you, Alistair Campbell, who was Tony Blair's press secretary, raged about the inertia of the royal family and its advisors, but they were following the lead from the boss, who was the Queen. Let's talk to Ingrid Seward, who is the Editor-in-Chief of Majesty magazine, and has just published a very interesting new book, by the way. Ingrid, the response from the palace was swift and firm and resolute. Unusual, because normally they just rise above all this, and as they actually say in the statement, we don't normally comment on books, however. Well, I think obviously the King felt very strongly that he was being misrepresented by Spencer, and I think there's very little love lost between the Spencers and the royal family, whereas once upon a time, way back in history, the Spencers were actually what I call in my book, royal groupies. I mean, they were very close, but after Diana's father died, things changed, and they were far more remote, and of course when Diana's tragic death happened, as we all know between the royal family and the Spencers were absolutely, I mean, explosive, and I'm sure a lot of things were said that were misinterpreted or taken out of context. And the other thing is, of course, Diana changed her story constantly, and I saw her, as I've described in my book, probably a month before her death, and at that time she was saying, Ingrid, it really, really matters to me that people know that Charles and I loved each other, and she said, wait till people will eventually see our love letters, and I actually have seen one of those love letters, and Charles may not have loved Diana all the time, he obviously didn't, but there was a period when he really loved and cared for her, and helped her, and I think she was very anxious to get that across, and now her brother, no, I don't think, and you correct me if I'm wrong, I've got a feeling she wasn't speaking to her brother at the time of her death, because she had these vendettas with people all the time. Using the internet without a VPN, a virtual private network, is a bit like taking to the road without car insurance. All it takes is one unlucky moment to cost you a lot of cash. 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He went to get her body, brought it back with the Queen's flight against resistance from within the royal family, which sort of rather conflicts with this idea that he thought this woman was an irritation who would be quickly forgotten. I mean, from my understanding, and yours, Ingrid, I think he was grief-stricken when she died. My understanding, he was completely grief-stricken. And I imagine that this conversation took place in very fiery circumstances. And he wanted Diana to have a proper burial. Spencer wanted Diana to be buried quietly at Althrup. And perhaps this conversation, you know, he was saying we've got to do something really special for her because she'll be forgotten in a few years. I mean, it could have been anything. So we can't say that Spencer was lying. And certainly the King realises that whatever remark he made, it's been taken out of context. So I really think it's just the right thing to do for him to, you know, put what he thinks. Recollections may vary, in other words, which is what he was saying earlier. Ingrid, do you think it would have been better if it had stuck to the tried and trusted role formula of never complain and never explain? Well, I don't know. I really don't know what to think. I mean, obviously, this response has really made this story bigger, but the story was big anyway. This book was always going to be, you know, it's Spencer telling his story the last time. And I presume he's done it for money. He's been married four times. He must be running out of money. And I'm sure he's had a massive advance for this. And I'm sure that that's the reason he's done it. So it has to be fiery. Ingrid, you knew Diana, you worked and covered the story extensively of the whole saga of her relationship with Charles from beginning to end. What do you think? I mean, it's almost an impossible question to answer, but I'm going to ask it in any case. What do you think Diana would make of this situation, of what her brother has said, what he has accused the king of saying? What do you think she'd make of it? I think Diana would be extremely upset. It's, you know, it's her story. It's not her brother's story. And I think she'd hate the fact that he'd made this remark against her former husband. Charles was the one she always loved. He was the one that got away. But most important for Diana was that she didn't want her children to think that their parents hadn't loved each other. So I think she would be absolutely furious with her brother for making this comment. Oh, she'd probably be furious for him for writing a book because after all, we've all done it. And he was the one that had it. So I think that she would be very, very upset about this. And we're going to get more revelations at five o'clock this evening, Ingrid, from the book. I cannot believe, cannot conceive that this can be nothing but some uncomfortable languages kind of come out of Charles Spencer about the role of Camilla in the collapse of the marriage of Charles and Diana. I think that's very possible. I mean, you obviously know more than I do, Andrew. I think that I think that would be very sad. I think I just don't see the point of getting at Camilla. She's been got at so much over the years. And now she's still, I think, in my opinion, she's still a very humble queen. She doesn't float it. And I think she's a very unfair target. But as I said before, you know, if you want to make a lot of money out of a book, it has to be sensational. And I presume. And the other thing is, it's not just Charles who's fighting the royal family. It's also Mrs. Shan Kidd. She was very anti the royals during the period after Diana's death, which I talk about in my book. Yeah. You said she became a Republican. You said she became a Republican. Oh, you do read your daily mail. Of course I do. Yes, of course. Yeah. Well, this one's going to run and run, Ingrid, as they say, and it will reverberate across the Atlantic, around the world. Just one final question, Ingrid, before we go. I mean, Harry over here now, obviously with the family, he actually spent quite a bit of time with Earl Spencer. Also, should we read anything into that? Well, I think the Spencers have, if you like, sided with Harry. And I think Spencer feels he should be looking after him because he obviously feels the king isn't looking after him. Harry's a big boy now, but he does continually make his own life more difficult, which perhaps is a bit like his mother used to. By not keeping his mouth shut, he makes his life more problematic and people more anti him. But he always has been close to his father, so who knows? But I just feel that the whole thing is exactly what the monarchy, or especially the king, because he's got a very important meeting about AI today at Dumfries House. They really don't need this, so I think they will fight back. Ingrid, thank you so much. Absolutely fascinating to talk to you, as always. That is Editor-in-Chief at Manchester Magazine, Ingrid Seward there. As you say, this story is going to run and run, five o'clock tonight. And of course, he's also talking about, in his view, he thought it was barbaric for William and Harry, aged, what were they, 14 and 12, to walk behind the coffin of Diana. Charles's response, according to Spencer, was, well, I walked behind the coffin of Lord Mountbatten. Well, Lord Mountbatten wasn't his father. And he was 30. And he was 30, and Lord Mountbatten was in his 70s when he was murdered by the IRA. Diana was in her prime, she was 36. It's a different time. There's no comparison. No, absolutely.