Mirror readers debate if King Charles should have stayed quiet over Spencer's claims

Mirror readers debate if King Charles should have stayed quiet over Spencer's claims BuckinghamPalace has broken with its usual approach of remaining silent after explosive allegations emerged in a forthcoming memoir about Princess Diana and the aftermath of her death Buckingham Palace has responded after Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer claimed the King made a shocking remark following her death. In his upcoming memoir, Earl Spencer claims the then Prince of Wales - now King Charles - made the comment in the wake of Diana’s death in 1997, as he expressed what Spencer described as “pent-up contempt for Diana”. He accused the King of saying “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”, according to excerpts of the memoir. But Buckingham Palace has now responded to the claims in a rare intervention. A Palace spokesman said: “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.” The response is unusual for the Royal Family, who have often remained silent over claims made in unauthorised biographies and memoirs. But it is not the first time the Palace has spoken publicly following allegations involving the royals. In 2021, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a series of allegations during their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, including that there had been concerns within the Royal Family about how dark Archie’s skin might be before he was born. Meghan also spoke about her mental health and said she had experienced suicidal thoughts while a working royal. While the late Queen Elizabeth II was monarch, Buckingham Palace released a statement expressing the family’s sadness at learning how challenging the previous years had been for the couple. It added: “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. “ Earl Spencer’s new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is due to be published next Tuesday by Michael Joseph, part of Penguin Random House, nearly 30 years after Diana’s death in August 1997. In it, Spencer also claims he told the then Prince of Wales that his sister would have been horrified at the thought of her sons having to endure the spectacle of walking publicly behind her coffin. The book is reportedly set to cover Diana’s childhood, her unhappy marriage to the then Prince of Wales and the aftermath of her death. The memoir has already made headlines after a lorry carrying thousands of copies from a printing plant in central Europe was reportedly broken into. Four copies of the book, wrapped in black plastic to conceal their contents, were taken while the driver slept at a lay-by. A publishing source reportedly said: “It’s extremely suspicious. Nothing like this has ever happened before. This is probably the biggest book of the year and the security surrounding it has been incredibly tight. Every possible precaution has been taken to prevent it from being leaked ahead of its serialisation. Therefore this unprecedented incident is being taken extremely seriously.” When announcing the book in August, Earl Spencer said: “With the 30th anniversary of Diana’s tragic death on the skyline, I’ve been inundated yet again with requests for interviews about my sister. “This has convinced me to write down my own thoughts and memories, once and for all, rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others, many of which are based on untruths that have become accepted over time. “The aim of this book is to tell the truth about Diana from her brother’s perspective, just as I attempted to do when speaking at her funeral. As with my eulogy, I want to speak on Diana’s behalf and do so in an openly positive way.”