King Charles Once Told Princess Diana’s Brother She’d ‘Soon’ Be Forgotten After Her Death

Princess Diana‘s brother Earl Charles Spencer is looking back on the days after his sister tragically died in a 1997 car crash.

In Spencer’s upcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister (out September 22), the 62-year-old recounts an alleged argument he had with his sister’s ex-husband, now King Charles III, regarding how Diana’s funeral would unfold, according to a report from the Daily Mail published on Wednesday, September 16.

Diana was 36 when she died on August 31, 1997, following a car crash in Paris. At the time, Prince William was 15, and Prince Harry was 12.

According to an excerpt from Spencer’s memoir viewed by the outlet, Charles, now 77, insisted that his and Diana’s sons, William and Harry, would walk in her funeral procession.

However, Spencer said that’s not the way his sister would’ve wanted it. Diana’s brother said she wouldn’t have liked to see William, now 44, and Harry, now 42, go through such a public ordeal amid the tragedy.

But Charles allegedly insisted and called Spencer to tell him he walked in the funeral procession of his great uncle Lord Mountbatten.

After Spencer pointed out that Charles was 30 at the time of Lord Mountbatten’s funeral and not as young as William and Harry, “Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting,” Spencer wrote in his book.

“Then he stopped,” Spencer continued. “I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. ‘Rest assured,’ he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!'”

Spencer recalled being “so stunned” by Charles’ alleged comments, telling him, “I can’t believe you just said that,” before hanging up.

While the royals rarely respond to stories like this, a palace spokesperson issued a statement after the Mail‘s article went live. “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 statement said, per People.

According to the Mail, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister was written to correct “untruths” told about his older sister.

Princess Diana would have been 65 today.