Royal row between King Charles and Earl Spencer

[Viviennemary]

Buckingham Palace said they don't usually comment but they can't stay silent. Apparently Prince Charles said at the time of Diana's death rest assured we'll forget her soon enough. Which is pretty horrendous. Charles has more or less said grief had clouded Earl Spencer's judgement and memory.

I don't know why he has waited nearly 30 years to come out with this.

Yes, that's the kind of remark you just don't forget.
"Flashbulb memory" I think it's called.
Where you remember where you were, what you were wearing etc on a specific day usually after some shocking event or conversation.
This would definitely fall under that if it happened - your sister's ex husband saying that to you as you're newly grieving.

It was KC's dismissive attitude towards the men trying to help that I noticed - not even a veneer of politeness or manners. Complete self-absorption in misery, as often displayed.

I haven't read all through so I am interested in the suggestions that the boys should have been allowed to see their mother. I had been thinking about that since yesterday. I've no idea what happened. If I could turn the clock back I would tell them that they could see her but that she had been injured and it might be best for her face to be gently covered over but they could look at her hands and touch them, although they'd be cold now, or just touch the edge of the coffin, and if they wanted to talk to her all on their own they could have a few minutes to do that or talk to her with someone else with them, and maybe write her a little letter and seal it carefully and put it into the coffin, and that crying is fine, if tears come.

It was a short time between Diana dying and the funeral. I don't know why that was. I wonder if another week might have given everyone a bit more time to discuss and plan.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Diana's mum advised her against the marriage.

Her mum had a similar age gap with her dad & I think her sister Jane with her husband so that probably didn't seem too unusual.

Yes but that shows how much all of it is about smoke and mirrors and how little we know about any of them. As she herself said, ' some people say but don't do' She was an expert in ' showing' one side of herself while ' doing' something else. Far better imo to have a Monarch who we know has flaws than one who demands utter deference from all around her.( obviously aided and abetted by the self interest of others)

At the time, it was widely reported in the media that it was Charles idea.
You do know people don't just make up these facts, they are repeating what the media said.

Earl Spencer spoke out against it at the time and said the children should not walk behind the coffin. It was ignored by the royal family.

It was widely accepted at the time that the royals did this to stop the public booing Charles walking behind Diana's coffin, or even throwing things at him. The children were human shields.

Blimey. I hadnt heard that. I dont doubt the guy has been under pressure his whole life, but, even so, that kind of behaviour suggests a certain touchy, petulant kind of personality. I cant imagine the queen ripping a sink off a wall somehow, can you.😂

Quite a bit is made up right here.

The whole thing was fucked up. I only recently found out (on MN) that Diana needed to be a virgin to be able to marry Charles. Given this is only (!) 40 years ago, it's seems almost surreal for that to have been a requirement for marrying a prince.

All the expert advice is to explain the realities and then ask them what they want to do. William was 15 at the time, he was not a toddler.

Diana's mum wanted to see her body but Charles refused permission to open the coffin. A fact I have always found extraordinary.

It comes across that way, yes.

I was a young adult at the time and everyone I knew thought it was bizarre when it was revealed in the media that Charles could only marry a virgin.
He certainly wasn't! And to be honest most women then were not before marriage.

I think we'd all be stressed trying to sign those documents on a table that was too small. He tried to show his frustration and get someone to move the pen tray.

Heaven forbid he should have to move a pen tray himself, I mean... come on!!!

Yes, I get the impression ppl at court are great manipulators. I'm sure the queen was wily. But she qas good at playing the monarch. I dont think Charles is.

Nope. The media widely reported that it was Charles idea to have the children walk behind their mother's coffin.

I listened to earl Spencer speak. I heard him say the children should not be asked to do this.

The reasons why i.e. the children were human shields is obviously a matter of opinion, but it was one widely expressed at the time.

And Diana was the pinnacle of virtue, with 11 lovers? I think she was a bad choice for Charles, who would have been better marrying Camilla in the first place, as he apparently wished.
I suspect Charles Spencer is keen to reanimate the Diana cult and has never forgiven Charles for divorcing his sister. Whether Charles said we would all soon forget Diana I am not sure, but it is the sort of thing one says about a furore over a public death i.e. that the public have short memories and this will pass. Stupid to say to Spencer if he said it. One cannot believe Charles Spencer, I feel. He's brought it up now to cause trouble. Recollections may vary, is the correct response.

I don't remember it being that short.
Most funerals in Scotland a week is normal.

It was the look of sheer terror in Camilla's eyes that did it for me. I knew then that he had form for tantrums like that and she was afraid he would explode. The walking on eggshells moment.

OK he was under pressure at the time, but we are all told that he had many many years of apprenticeship and training for the role of King, the first of which is decorum in public surely.

Street angel and house devil I'd say.

Well the line of the book that’s been released hasn’t half got some publicity.

I've can believe KC was probably not as kind to CS as one might hope. I can also believe CS has taken comments and exaggerated them to sell a book.

Somewhere in between likely lies the truth, and an additional chunk of book sales.

How so ? I remember at the time it was reported on that the children walking behind Diana’s coffin was more for Charles’s from the wrath of the public, than about what was best for her two sons.

Charles, who would have been better marrying Camilla in the first place, as he apparently wished.

But she didn't did she?

She wanted APB.

I agree with this. There is something....overblown and florid about him that makes me feel very uncomfortable. I suspect he is not entirely stable mentally maybe?

I am no fan of KC but I do not believe this conversation took place in the way it has been portrayed. Diana was used and abused dismally by the RF but she had faults too. I also do not believe the earl would have kept this gem quiet for all those years.

Even on this thread, many different sources saying different things.

It was 6 days. 6th September - she died on 31st August.

Yes those simply denying what the media reported at the time.