'Earl Spencer's memoir strikes at the King but will also plunge dagger into Diana's sons' hearts'

The devastating manner in which Diana, Princess of Wales was tragically killed, opened wounds for her loved ones that will never heal. For her two sons, just 15 and 12 at the time their mother was cruelly and catastrophically taken from them, it has shaped almost every facet of their life since then. William and Harry have frequently spoken of their lifelong desire to honour her legacy, in their charity work, their roles in public life and indeed after having families of their own, to keep her spirit alive. How shattering it must be then, to have her memory excavated in such wounding detail. The content of Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer's memoir, not only strikes at the heart of the monarchy, with his lethal character assassination of King Charles, and the wild allegations of his reaction to his ex-wife’s death, but plunges a dagger into the heart of Diana’s beloved sons. It is without question that despite their differences since Harry decided to walk away from his royal role, of which Diana would no doubt have been disturbed over had she lived to see them as men, husbands and fathers, both William and Harry will be deeply disturbed over their uncle’s claims. Spencer’s claims of the then Prince Charles not only suggesting he - and the royal family - would “forget her soon enough”, and that he was “giddily elated” and sounded like a “lottery winner” when he called him after Diana’s death, are harmful on multiple counts. Of course, if taken at face value, they threaten not only public perception of the King, who has undergone three decades of carefully cultivated image repair, but could also could have devastating consequences for his relationship with his children. William and Harry have in the past been incredibly open about their father’s misgivings. He was of course the polar opposite parent in many ways to Diana. A product of his own cold upbringing in an unforgiving institution that is not without fault. But what they do acknowledge is after being plunged into becoming a single parent, aside from burying himself in work, he did at least try to shield them from more heartache as best he could in those immediate years following their mother’s passing. Whereas Harry has used his exit from the monarchy to criticise his family and lay the blame at them for his mental health issues when he was at his most vulnerable, William is an entirely different man. He believes in actions and not words to fulfil his duties as a father and a future king, and will be devastated that his mother’s legacy is being talked about in such terms as we approach the 30th anniversary of her death. Whether Earl Spencer has any regard for that is a matter for him. What is undeniable is that the King and his heir are united on many matters concerning the business of the family playing out in public and after the monarch's stinging rebuke of Spencer’s claims, in that grief may have clouded his judgement in such recollections, they will unanimous in their despair at this latest war of words.