'Gaslit by a king': Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer speaks out in new interview about palace reaction to book
Charles Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana, is pushing back on Buckingham Palace about the rare royal reaction to his book reflecting on his sister and his memories of Britain's royal family.
"Well, it's not every day you're gaslit by a king," Charles Spencer told ABC News' Maggie Rulli in an interview that aired Monday on "Good Morning America," referring to King Charles III, his former brother-in-law.
Diana, Spencer's older sister, was married to Charles, then the Prince of Wales, for 15 years before the former couple finalized their divorce in 1996. One year later, Diana died in a car crash while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36.
A previously published excerpt from Spencer's new book, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," alleges that during a disagreement over Diana's funeral arrangements, Charles told Spencer, "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough."
The release of that excerpt prompted a rare reply from Buckingham Palace, which typically does not comment on books or reports about members of the royal family.
"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 palace said in a statement to ABC News on Sept. 16, the day the excerpt was published.
Spencer said he was both "upset" and "shocked" by the palace's statement.
"I was really upset with that because I thought it was very, not only condescending, but not straight," Spencer said. "What I said is straight and true. And what did they come back with? That. It doesn't say he didn't say it either. That's what I found interesting. I was really shocked, actually."
He said of his choice to include that memory in his book, "I put that in the book because it's important. It's a fundamental part of the truth of my book."
Spencer's book contains more of his own recollections of Charles, whom he describes in his writing as a "petulant child" and a "bellowing buffoon." Spencer alleges that Charles was "giddily elated - like a lottery winner" when he spoke to him immediately after Diana's death.
Spencer, one of Diana's three surviving siblings, said he could have gone further with his assessment of Charles.
"I didn't hold back, but I could have gone -- this is not a threat -- I could've gone an awful lot further," he said. "So everything I say in the book is absolutely essential to the narrative and the understanding of the subject."
He continued, "People have asked me, you know, am I bitter, angry or not? I'm really not, I'm not."
ABC News has reached out to the palace for comment on Spencer’s additional claims in his book.
"It's not tittle-tattle. I'm not trying to damage the monarchy or whatever I've been accused of doing," Spencer said of his writing. "I wanted to do this properly once and for all for Diana and remind those who knew her when she was alive, why they connected with her."
Spencer said he chose to publish "Swan Song" one year ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana's death. The book is described as a brother's tribute to his sister.
"One of the things with being a little brother is you think, 'Oh, she's going to be okay.' And then realizing that she really wasn't," Spencer said. "Now I realize, you know, she was stuck in a gilded cage and she wanted the world to know it wasn't okay in there. And I didn't fully understand actually how very difficult things were for her at times."
"That's one of my regrets," he continued. "I wish I could have done more to help her then."
Spencer is perhaps most remembered by the public for walking alongside his nephews, Princes William and Harry, and Charles in Diana's funeral procession and for eulogizing his sister at her funeral on Sept. 6, 1997.
Charles and Diana shared two children, William and Harry, neither of whom have commented on their uncle's book.
At the same time Spencer is sharing his memoir of Diana, her sons are divided, with the two brothers' relationship strained in the years since Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, stepped away from their senior royal roles.
Harry, Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, recently returned to live in the United Kingdom after spending six years in California, where Meghan is from.
Spencer said he is not sure whether the family's rifts will be healed by next year's 30th anniversary of Diana's death.
"I can really only answer in general terms, you know, just that family rifts are, first of all, very sad. And everyone who cares about people in a family rift hopes it'll be healed," he said. "But, you, know, I'm not impertinent enough to comment beyond that because it's so personal. And I think, you probably all your audience and we probably think, 'Oh, well, we can see where the resolution can come,' but we don't know."
With Harry and Meghan now living back in the U.K., Spencer said he hopes they are treated with more humanity, a courtesy he said he wishes Diana also had.
"My big wish is that when people cover Harry and Meghan so unpleasantly, that they remember these are real people," he said. "This is the thing I think with Diana they forgot. These are people with a heart and a sadness from being savaged."
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