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.

The MSM were clamouring for their return. The feeling amongst many of the general public was that QEII and the PoW didn’t care. It wasn’t just Tony Blair.

Simply because people use a difference phrasing to what you would doesnt make them juvenile.

At the time of Dianas death the public opinion was very much slanted towards her being this amazing giving human who could do nothing wrong. The public mood was BP had wronged "their" princess.

I recall Charles Spencers speech and his comments too. I recall people feeling he had done wonderful with it. I recall the papers speaking of him standing up to his sister.

You are right we see this differently however that doesn't mean I don't remember things. It means we have a different view.

Not true. This issue was dealt with yesterday, and the actual facts are rather different. After Diana’s marriage broke down, Earl Spencer initially offered her the use of the Garden House at Althorp. He later withdrew that offer because he was concerned about the impact of her living there on privacy and security, including the inevitable police and press presence that would result from having the Princess of Wales living on an estate open to the public.

Importantly, he did not refuse to let Diana live anywhere on the estate. He offered her alternative properties, including the substantial Wormleighton Manor. Diana ultimately declined those alternatives. This was subsequently confirmed in court: in 2018, Associated Newspapers paid Earl Spencer undisclosed libel damages and apologised over a Daily Mail article that had portrayed him as having refused Diana any accommodation on his estate. The newspaper accepted that this was defamatory and untrue because it had omitted the fact that he had offered her other properties, including Wormleighton Manor.

Having look up that property it is rather fine certainly a much finer house than the cottage Harry and Meghan lived on on the Windsor Estate which has escaped my mind.

I agree with you. I attended my father's funeral at 17. I have blocked it out I don't even remember going. 35 years on I am still dealing with this. I dread to think the damage that has been done to those boys.

Enko at 07.26 echoes my perception of events.

Earl Spencer was correct in opposing the boys walking behind the coffin. That was appalling - as was making them attend church on the Sunday morning of Diana’s death, just a few hours after the news had been broken to them.

the timing is suss isn’t it? H&M return weirdly from the US and now bitter Uncle C releases a nasty memoir 30 years after his sister died? I bet William is absolutely furious.

I think Diana should be left in peace to be remembered, and do not think we need more books or tv documentaries.

Regardless of which Charles has the better memory.

This is not true. Earl Spencer won his court case against a tabloid who claimed this.
Diana asked to stay in one particular house very close to a public road. Earl said no as his security said they couldn't guarantee her safety at that location. Earl offered her more secure houses but she decided not to live there.

I have no idea why the lie you wrote keeps getting repeated again and again.

Is it those in power who have been bismirching her memory? Who are these shadowy figures and why do they need to bismirch the memory of someone who died 30 years ago? Diana was very pro monarchy, she and Charles were getting on well at the time of her death, why do they need to attack her memory, it's fairly ancient history.

The people who have been damaging Diana's memory are all those hangers on who constantly write books and articles and do podcasts, basically those who have been using her to make money for decades. If this book draws a line under the exploitation then good. I fear however it will just stir things up more.

I’m looking forward to this book. I hope it’s salacious and doesn’t paint Diana as saintly. That was tedious back in the day.

Mostly, I hope it pisses off Charles (I can’t stand any of them, tbf).

Shocked? I thought they were perfectly reasonable. The media behave horrendously to the royal family. I note he was saying this with Harry standing closest to him.

Wow what a strange comment.
It's weird for someone rich to move country is it??? In reality it happens all the time.
Book deals take a long time to agree, the book to be written, edited and published. It wasn't just knocked up last weekend you know.

it’s very weird when you’ve stated strongly more than once that you won’t move back there whilst slagging the place off in the most vitriolic terms, yes.

perhaps it was taken out of context
perhaps it was regarding harry and william
who knows

does seem odd to raise it 29 years later

No Nicholas witchell was always respectful. It was a terrible comment from Charles about someone just doing his job.

I think the lack of proper communication was the problem. It definitely was the right decision to keep the boys up in Scotland during that awful week but the PR surrounding that decision was very poorly handled.

Lol. I actually laughed at this. He hasn't slagged off Britain in the most vitriolic terms. What a strange thing to say. He has been critical of some elements like everyone else who is British.

I used to live abroad and said I would never come back. Like lots of people harry and I changed our minds. People are allowed to you know

I do believe they had a big row on the phone. The actual words don't quite ring true because they don't make sense. I could believe CS mis heard KC say they, ie the weeping crowds, would forget her. In the context of a possibly loud and messy argument easy to do. And that prob fed into his funeral speech and he has probably been stewing over it ever since.

So now we have H&M back in country , Andrew facing possible criminal sanctions, Earl Spencer going to war with the monarch , Fergie rumoured to be potless and a pressing need to pay her considerable bills and the late Queen's dresser with a grudge and a book deal. A Private Eye aptly puts it, Charles is indeed the Heir of Sorrows.

Perhaps KC made some remark and Charles Spencer misconstrued or misheard it. It was a time of heightened emotions and distress.
However it was 30 years ago and the only ones destroyed by this long term are the defendants of Spencer, ie William and his children moving
forward.

“critical of some elements” ie slagging off the entire royal family in the strongest terms? Have you even read Spare or seen the netflix shows? I’m guessing not if you think he’s just “critical of some elements” LOL

Correct me if I'm wrong, so the boys didn't see their mother's body for the last time? Couldn't it be the reason why Harry can't accept his mother's death as reality until more than 10 years later?

Just the usual contempt from the upper classes for ordinary people doing a job.

The public thought the royal family and especially the queen didn't care about Diana's death, Their initial reaction was Diana should have a small private funeral. They refused to even lower the flag at the palace initially. The royals said Diana was no longer a royal, so her death would be treated like any private citizen.

In fact the royal families initial statement about Jimmy savilles death was far more emotional than Diana's death.