Charles Spencer’s memoir Swan Song hasn’t even been released yet and it’s already been causing chaos.
The younger brother of the late Princess Diana has penned his most personal work yet but the road to its release has been rocky to say the least.
Days before its release, four copies of the book were reportedly pinched from a lorry in the Netherlands when the driver stopped overnight to sleep.
But after the Earl of Spencer claimed that the then-Prince Charles told him in the days after Diana’s 1997 death, “rest assured, we’ll forget about her soon enough,” Buckingham Palace hit back.
“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 judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss,” the statement spilled.
Taking to Instagram, the 62-year-old labelled Swan Song “the most personal of the ten books I’ve written over the past three decades” and a “simple tribute to an extraordinary sister”.
“A month ago I read Swan Song out, over three days, for a recording so that it could be available on audiobook. When I finished the recording, I thought: ‘That is exactly what I wanted and needed to say – and she would, I reckon, have approved of every word.'”
But our royal insider tells New Idea that the palace is bracing itself ahead of the memoir’s release as the late Princess of Wales’ brother has no plans to back down.
“Charles knows he’s going to ruffle a few feathers with this book – he already has with just a few pages of serialisation – but he is standing by his claim that his sister would approve of every word. Doing so gives the book a veneer of authenticity – and a layer of protection – while subtly daring the Royals to sue him over it. They won’t be taking on just him, but also the powerful legacy of his sister too,” our source spills.
“No one’s shocked that copies were stolen from a delivery truck in the Netherlands but it’s certainly triggered the conspiracy theorists. Now people can’t decide if it was a very successful publicity stunt for the book or if the Palace decided they needed four advance copies and sent someone to get it.
“A thief who cracks a trailer doesn’t always know what’s inside so selecting just those four is why it’s raised so many eyebrows. The King has faced down more than one tell-all biopic before, but it’s fair to say this one does have the potential to cause him problems.”
“Already he’s struggling with his popularity as King, but a book quoting him as saying ‘we’ll all forget about Diana’ couldn’t come at a worse time. Regardless it’s unlikely he’s commissioned one of his goons to retrieve a copy from a random rest-stop in the Netherlands where cargo theft is very common.
“Charles can’t stop what’s coming a week before it’s on every bookstand in the world but he knows it’s not going to be pretty. He and the Earl have had very little to say to each other since THAT funeral speech, but the King is starting to regret not patching things up with the Earl.”
But even more royal family fallouts could follow on from this bombshell release, especially now Prince Harry and Meghan are back in the UK and getting closer to the Spencer side of Harry’s family.
“The Royals have already shunned the Sussexes and the Earl has never been forgiven for his speech at Diana’s funeral, but the two teaming up would come at a price neither are willing to pay at the moment,” a source tells New Idea.
“Charles would be excommunicated from his extremely powerful ‘mutual friend of the King’s’ circle that include William, while Harry would ruin any chances of a full reconciliation with his dad – even more so with Charles’ book coming out. If there’s anything bad in there about the Royals, Harry and Meghan taking the Spencer side will distance them even further – probably irreparably – from the Royals.”
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