Charles Spencer to publish memoir of Diana

[OccasionalHope]

Could be interesting.

Understandable, poor man.

But should an uncle and great uncle publish things which will cause pain, and PUBLIC pain, to the children and grandchildren of his dead sister, who have done nothing to deserve it?

Is that what Diana would have wanted?

Don’t you find such spite distasteful? And maybe he won’t - it may be that he has considered this. Let’s hope so.

He had his public rant at the funeral.

@CoffeeCantata

After decades of character assassination and lies repeated as truth I think he’s entitled to put the record straight.

There are ways he could defend his sister’s reputation without causing unnecessary embarrassment or pain to William and his children. It’s called discretion.

This. He is cashing in and clearly isnt thinking or caring about what impact yet another muck raking tell all book will have on her son or her grandchildren.

Regardless of his own traumatic events in his past it does not give him the right to inflict pain and emotional trauma on others.

@CoffeeCantata

Really ? How exactly do you suggest he go about putting the public record right
privately ?
The more light shone on the publicly funded Andrew protectors the better .

Is that what he’s said is his aim (genuine question)?

I mean - if you’d asked me I would have said that Diana’s reputation is high - old cynics like me are rare. And I give her credit where it’s due, I just don’t think she’s the Saint some people do.

So I’m surprised to think there’s a record to set straight.

Well things had moved on a long way from the Queen and Princess Margaret's education during World War II. All of Charles' generation attended school.

Charles - Cheam School then Gordonstoun
AMW - Heatherdown Prep/Gordonstoun
Edward - Heatherdown Prep/Gordonstoun
Anne was the outlier but went to Benenden age 13

Then William's generation all attended school from pre-prep onwards attending a number of different schools. I believe Harry is the only one of his generation not to have gone on to University (Although James Wessex hasn't actually gone yet.)

@CoffeeCantata

Of course there is . Look at some posts on this thread never mind wider media - some posts are still repeating tabloid smears that were used against Diana during the divorce . They even repeat the story that Spencer turned Diana away when in fact the Times and Mail
were sued for libel and defamation for that story!

There is lot to be corrected and I don’t doubt a lot to still be revealed . Good luck to him .

Well if he 'puts the record straight' in a calm measured way fine. If he pulls a stunt like his 'blood family' crap at Diana's funeral, not so fine.

He should consider William in all this. I fear the pound signs may have been all too tempting though and it will end up like something a tabloid hack has written.

The British media will never stop with the Royal Family so why shouldn’t they tell their story in their own words? I’m not a fan but they all do suffer at the hands of the likes of the DM.

I asked your earlier what things are said on MN that are lies about Diana . What else was there?

Who do you count as being in that category? All of the RF ? Or?

He had his public rant at the funeral

It was hardly a "public rant"

For all those that don't remember what he said in his eulogy at the funeral here is the transcript. I remember, at the time, cheering him on because it was a most beautiful speech. I'm old so I have a distinct memory, I can remember stood there in my kitchen listening to him.

There is only one small paragraph that everyone gets riled about and I honestly think there is nothing wrong with it. I applauded him at the time. Is it really so bad? I don't think so. Please do read the whole transcript, not just what some would consider 'the rant', it summed up Diana.

And beyond that, on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned. We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage them in their royal role but we, like you, recognise the need for them to experience as many different aspects of life as possible to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead. I know you would have expected nothing less from us

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/spencerfull.html

If he’s wanting to show that stories about him being estranged from her - fine, that’s his business.

But in the light of what’s been said above about not raking over old muck to do with Charles and Diana or her relationships, for the sake of her children and grandchildren, I really don’t think he should do that. Personally I think that would be a difficult act to pull off considering his own notorious marital record. And - that’s no one’s business eitherUNLESS he gets on a high moral horse about other people’s!

As for the funeral oration - he didn’t keep his promise that the Spencers would be closely involved in the upbringing of the princes. That didn’t happen. He’s got a rep for being all talk and not much action.

Also - if he hasn’t conferred with both the princes on this project - that’s seriously bad. Neither prince has done anything to deserve embarrassment and having their mother’s corpse dug up and picked over yet again.

In fact, to me, it’s unthinkable that CS would publish anything about their mother without both princes’ approval.

I think the 'rant' started with 'who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic'.

Not really appropriate for a global audience that included her two young sons.

What would be interesting is if Spencer addressed why he introduced Martin Bashir to Diana without vetting him first.

Arguably, that introduction led to Diana rejecting her RPOs which resulted in her death due to subpar protocols...driver impaired by alcohol and no seatbelt.

I agree and there is the positive consequence that the more prominent people speak out about violence in boarding schools and SA, the more permission it gives other victims to come forward.

This has also happened in the case of tv presenter Nicky Campbell who spoke out about the physical abuse he suffered at school which allowed others who were SA and physically harmed to come forward too and although the perpetrators were deemed too old and unfit to stand trial, at least the school issued a formal apology.

Absolutely. Spencer's book enabled others to speak out and now the school is being investigated. Being a victim of such abuse is long term and lonely. It's good to speak up and speak out. The whole nature of child abuse is that it gets hidden.
"Over sharing" it is not.

I’d love one of the earl’s exes to write a memoir. Grubby, over privileged man.

Wow - I didn’t know that.

I hope he’s realised that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. If his book is a catalogue of recriminations against those he thinks failed Diana he’d better man up and be honest about his own shortcomings.

Unlike the ghouls rubbing their hands together at the thought of salacious revelations I hope he’s been wise enough not to leave a sour taste on this anniversary, which let’s be honest, is probably the last chance he’ll get to cash in on Diana’s memory.

Diana was being paranoid at that period. You'd have to be very naive/wilfully ignorant not to be aware of that. William simply said that the whole Bashir saga is what made her feel paranoid. He was pointing to the external source that had made her feel tht way. I'm not sure how this was "silencing" his mother (who is dead so silent anyway). Anyone would have been driven paranoid by what Bashir did!

If anything, William's comment is one of the very few genuine "insider" observations that we're ever really going to get. If anyone has a good idea about Diana's state of mind or what was going on with her in her last years, it's William, who was old enough to understand many things then and who Diana herself apparently used as a confidant.

Are you seriously suggesting that William didn't care about his mother and that he should not be considered during discussions of Diana?

I suspect this book will be more about Diana's fun and caring side, cute stories about their lives together as siblings and how much she loved her boys, rather than a list of recriminations against King Charles. There may be some sticky moments in it, but I'm sure they will be written "delicately".

Not sure about this. Charles will forever be crucified by many for his "affair" with Camilla while married. Diana will forever be seen by many as his victim. Many still hate Camilla for what they believe she did to Diana. Perhaps not so much in the UK anymore (although such feelings used to be very strong in the UK too), but internationally there are many who think that way.

The "dashing" stuff was a reference to before he was married.