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Updated 1 hour ago, September 20, 2026

Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, says King Charles spoke those words in the days after Diana’s death in 1997. He revealed the claim in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, who pressed him on what William and Harry would make of hearing it nearly three decades later.

Spencer said the disclosure would not shock his nephews. “This will not be a surprise to them, I’ll tell you that,” he told her.

He framed the book as a duty rather than an attack, calling himself “an eye witness to history” and pointing to his own age and the deaths of both his parents in their 60s. He said the line sits at the heart of the eulogy he delivered at Diana’s funeral, and that he had to explain why it was there.

He also said there were things he knows about the king that he left out because they weren’t relevant, adding, “I know, this is not a threat, it’s a fact.”

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson responded this week: “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 colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.”

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