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.

Maybe - but we are talking about him because he is our Head of State and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

I remember watching the Queen Mother's funeral just five years later and wondering how traumatizing it was for William and Harry to walk behind another coffin again - at that point they were only 19 and 17.

I thought she would perhaps have a wing of that immense house or at least an apartment ?!?

I caved, I read the excerpt(?) in the DM.

"As he ranted, I thought of my family and its long history of duty.
Of my father, a soldier and a courtier who years before, as an equerry, had had a romantic connection with the future Queen Elizabeth II, which was ended by Lord Mountbatten."

Eta

I thought she'd been besotted by Philip since she first met him at about 13/14?

Also Spencer claimed Charles was "giddy with excitement at Diana's death' . It all seems very unlikely. That he would say these things to her brother. That the brother would wait all these years to say anything. Then there's the timing with the Sussexes returning.. No mention of Spencer refusing to let his sister stay with him Of course.
Just dodgy.

He’ll be saying that there are seals in the lake at Althorp next.

They start clapping when you sing Uptown Girl to them.

This sounds interesting- where did you see the video?

All the historical documentaries and books seem to say that.

Queen mother did favour a Hugh, Earl of Euston for a time but Elizabeth never wavered apparently.

GBNews, also found this, a different statement.

"iconic , Earl Spencer stood outside his home in Cape Town, visibly shaken. When discussing how the Royal Family was handling the immediate tragedy, he explicitly noted that Prince Charles was behaving in an entirely correct and polite manner given the circumstances.
During the brief press conference, Spencer stated:

"I've had a telephone conversation with Prince Charles... he was very polite, and I must say he was doing everything he could, as you'd expect, for his sons."

Why would it cause massive upset for William that his uncle is sticking up gor his mother

Me too I believe it. Charlie was so jealous of Diana popularity and so were all the Royals especially The Queen. Hard to believe Charles(Diana's brother) would make that up. At the time of her death the Royal family were shocked at how much the nation were grieving

Because 50% of him is from his father and is painting his father as an absolute shit.

His father is also alive and he has to deal with him day to day.

He might also love him!

What is this to do with what we are talking about?

Well, I quite enjoyed today’s extract (read on a paywall unblocker), especially the bit where he called Prince Charles a ‘bellowing buffoon’ 😂

Does Spencer not understand how these things are saved for ever I thought he was a clever clogs? A brilliant writer and 'historian' who forgets what he's said previously.

That's a weird sentence - it reads as though he had a romantic connection with the Queen when he worked as an equerry.

Except his father worked as an equerry for the Queen from 1952-54 and the Queen was already married to Phillip then and had two young children.

I think it’s abhorrent that he is making such claims. Charles was obviously distressed when Diana died. He was ashen faced in Paris. Even if the claims were true, it’s incredibly upsetting for her sons to hear them and only benefits Charles Spencer because he gets to make some money to help him pay alimony to all his exes. There must be a reason his children from his first marriage have no relationship with him.

This is the story that sticks in my mind whenever I think of Charles Spencer. A thoroughly nasty man, even if he did say nice things at his sister's funeral.

Something I noticed when Harry left the royal family was that a lot of staunch republicans suddenly started saying very nice things about him. He was a war hero, so brave, model husband and father, so progressive, yada yada. It was as though they pretended not to see any of the (really rather blatant) awful behaviour, but simply thought "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and decided to throw their support behind him.

I have a feeling Spencer's book may will be lauded in a similar way by people who want rid of the monarchy. It's really very childish - you can dislike the royals and everything they stand for, while still accepting that Earl Spencer is a vile man and that Harry is a spoiled, bitter brat who behaves appallingly towards his family. Both things can be true. Real life is not a goodies vs. baddies situation.

Sticking up for his mother?! He is shit stirring and actually contradicting himself in the process. Not a good look.

It's almost as though he's full of shit.

How on earth is this sticking for his mother? Hearing horrible, completely unprovable allegations about his father being elated just after his mother had been killed in a car crash? This is a vile thing to do to Harry and William and is in no way being done to benefit them- apparently they weren't even warned about what was in the book!

I remember Charles in Paris with Diana’s sister, a man in deep shock.

It doesn’t even make sense for him or anyone, to say she would be
’forgotten soon enough’ during such an outpouring of collective grief -
manifested in the flowers and messges left not only in Kensington Gardens
but outside the gates of Balmoral.

It is inconceivable that Charles would say such an illogical, nonsensical
and spiteful remark, if only so that Spencer would not be able to repeat
such a malicious calumny. Ha !

That’s nonsense. Diana admitted she cheated first.

"Of my father, a soldier and a courtier who years before, as an equerry, had had a romantic connection with the future Queen Elizabeth II, which was ended by Lord Mountbatten."

Could this be the root of Charles Spencer's bizarre hatred for King Charles and the Mountbattens? That he actually imagines that his father was going to marry the then Princess Elizabeth and that he, the son and heir of the union of Windsor and Spencer, would one day be King, and not that Charles Mountbatten chap?

I've noticed on Spencer's Instagram that he often posts photos of his father as a boy with, e.g. Queen Mary, or as a royal equerry. He seems obsessed with the royal family and with claiming a connection to them, even if he hates the actual King.

Also - the ghastly photograph of Diana which doesn’t look like her at all,
as though she has dropsy. Why, of all the wonderful pictures of her, is
this the one fronting Spencer’s book.
Is it because as has been suggested this shows her to be a Goldsmith?

the clumsy title, Swansong, made me think of Sunset Boulevard, awful.

This week Sotheby’s announced the auction in early December, of
Diana’s Revenge Dress
and
Diana’s supposed half sister Jemima was married.

and it’s still only Thursday