Earl Spencer's book on Diana is stolen

[JustHereForTheShitsAndGiggles]

Warning - DM link ahead...
Copies of Earl Spencer's sensational book about Princess Diana have been stolen from a lorry – just before its exclusive serialisation in the Daily Mail.
The memoir – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – includes revelations about Diana's deeply unhappy marriage with the then Prince of Wales.
It also describes the crisis that engulfed the Royal Family after her death in a car crash almost 30 years ago.
Last night a publishing insider said: 'Earl Spencer has kept his silence for nearly 30 years and what he has to say about the King's reaction when Diana died is utterly devastating.'
But, in an astonishing development, the Mail can reveal that a truck packed with thousands of copies of the book was broken into after it was parked overnight in a lay-by in the Netherlands earlier this week.
Just four copies, which had been wrapped in black plastic to hide their contents, were stolen in what publishing sources believe could have been an audacious plot to steal the highly anticipated book of the year before it hits the shelves.

Earl Spencer's bombshell new book is stolen: Several copies of Earl's explosive book about his sister Diana - and how King reacted to her death - are taken in raid on a Dutch lorry | Daily Mail Online

Oops. I meant to name change for the name I use in the RF threads but hey, too late now. Sorry.

If Max Clifford was still around I would say it was one of his ploys to highlight the release of the book with the run-up to Christmas. 🤔

That should help get some attention back on it after everything switched to Harry and his family…

Ooo how very James Bond. Do we think the royal commissioned the snatch?

One for Charles, One for Camilla, one for Kate and one for wills?

Sounds like PR

New H and M came back for some reason

Must have been to plot this heist

What will they do next?

New? Are you suggesting the real ones have been replaced? 😉

Well, if someone scans and uploads that book today or tomorrow onto the internet, it’s going to be worthless to the publisher and Uncle Spencer if the whole world can read it for free.

And it scuppers the Mail’s forthcoming serialisation.

Mmm, it might impact the advance serialisation if some interesting snippets are leaked but people aren’t going to download the whole thing, they are still going to buy the book. And all publicity is good publicity.

I imagine Earl Spencer’s lawyers will have received a very late night telephone call from him this evening, or this morning.

The book is due to be published on the 22nd anyway so thousands of copies will have already been printed and I imagine that the publishers will simply bring the launch forward.

Anyone else find it interesting that it’s the daily mail who has the serialisation.

"the Mail can reveal that a truck packed with thousands of copies of the book was broken into"

Truck? Why is the Mail using Americanisms in its UK edition?

The word is lorry.

As Paul Dacre said in his speech after ANL's legal win, the Mail was Diana's paper. She used to pop in to the offices there to talk to them.

I suspect that could be one reason why Charles Spencer chose it over any other.

@bluegreygreen Thanks, that does make sense, but still a little surprised.

I suspect they probably offered the most money!

So out of thousands of books only four, which were wrapped in black plastic, were "stolen", yeah right, what are the chances.

That's not how I read it.

"..a truck packed with thousands of copies of the book was broken into..."

So the thousands of books in the lorry were all this biography.

"Just four copies, which had been wrapped in black plastic to hide their contents, were stolen..."

But only four copies out of the thousands were nicked.

It is badly written, though. I'd bet folding money that all the books were wrapped in black.plastic, not just the four that were stolen, which is what that sentence suggests as it stands.

Yes I read it like that too. Awful writing I agree.

So in my head we have truck/ lorry 🫣

Pallets of thousands of books. Shrink wrapped in black plastic to keep them secret.

Someone breaks in. Takes just 4 copies.

Basically I think it’s implying it’s a target attack.

Why was the lorry parked in a lay by in the Netherlands?

It said the driver was sleeping.

I really don’t think this happened. Or the driver did it. But more likely it is like Omid Scobie and the Spanish language version leaks: meant to create controversy and drum up interest.

Because it was carrying the books from the printing company or a distribution hub in Europe to the ferry over to England, and the driver had run out of hours, at a guess.

But more likely it is like Omid Scobie and the Spanish language version leaks

Dutch language version

Amazing that the alleged thief knew exactly what was in the lorry, where it was parked, what was hidden in black plastic.

Oh, I see. That's disappointing. My first thought was that the plastic-wrapped books looked like parcels of drugs.

Nicking four from a shipment of thousands is weird. Maybe the thieves opened a couple of pallets to see what it was, found books and chucked them into a nearby hedge?

I think it more likely than a strangely convoluted PR stunt, but am still hoping for a little scandal!

That’s right!

Was it leaked in poorly translated Spanish by a Spanish paper?

Exactly.