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.

I can almost understand (on the word of his sister) as to why he may feel deep bitterness towards KC.

I can’t understand why on earth he’d choose to do this to his nephews.

It is cruel and without grace or class.

He offered her reduced rent to cover cleaning, gardening and upkeep.
Should he have given it all for free? I don't know. Should wealthy brothers house their pretty well off sisters for free?

Diana was very unpopular at the time of her death though. The press did a volte face .

All of this was presented as evidence in CS’s case against the Daily Mail and upheld. No idea why posters are trying to rewrite fact.

Everything else aside, the main question is whether you believe earl Spencer or Charles Windsor. And I believe earl Spencer.

Charles Windsor always claims everyone us confused or lying about any negative anecdotes about him. He never ever says, yes made a mistake there, that wasn't good.
Diana did. She said she regretted the public war of the Wales between her and Charles because of it's impact on the children. And she said if she had her time again she would have handled it differently. But radio silence from Charles.

The man seems incapable of publicly admitting mistakes. And yet he always failed to realise that Diana's openness and ability to admit she had made mistakes made her more popular. Wise people know we all make mistakes. Except Charles Windsor apparently

Charles Spencer has been very cruel to his nephews, William and Harry, by including this recollection in his book. They've only had one living parent for the last 29 years and both appear to have/want to have a good relationship with their father. All the publicity that this generates will only upset William and Harry.

If CS personally detests KC and wants nothing to do with him, fair enough. But why hurt his sister's children? I can't understand that.

Simply not true.

Simply not true.

I do think most brothers, and particularly those with huge estates and many houses, would not do that. He clearly didn't need the money- his fortune is estimated to be over £100 million.

I know. He proved his case in a court of law. And yet every single page of this thread has someone repeating this lie again. It's tiresome.

Okay. He was wrong and should have given her a serviced house for free.

Yes - whatever your view of KC it seems really tasteless - to put it mildly!

He must have he just decided to go for the money and to hell with the feelings of his nephews - and others.

I don’t like this kind of character-assassination, personally. And it’s all so long ago now. Imagine digging up Diana just to be so cruel.

He said at the time that he couldn’t afford to offer her anything rent free - given the astronomical cost of the upkeep of these estates I don’t think that’s unreasonable. A reduced rent would be the compromise I suppose. Would he have had complete autonomy over the estate or be answerable to a board of directors ? I don’t know.

Treated first wife horribly - documented unfaithful with at least ten women - some of those affairs while she was in-patient treatment for anorexia. Moved the whole family to South Africa for 'privacy' (where have we heard that before) but it was actually to pursue a South African model - whose husband ended up suing Spencer for marital alienation.

Tried to seduce his former best friend's wife while friend was in prison.

Left his second wife for a younger model just four months after she'd given birth to their child.

He's never shown any indication that he respects the women in his life.

Easy to do when the people involved are dead I suppose.

You can pretty much say what you like.

@wordler I know his marriages have been a disaster.
I still believe he is telling the truth.

I remember that time very well! D was cavorting around the Med with sleazy Dodi and the press were really going for her. Many people were not impressed at that point - the feeling was “What’s she playing at?”

I have no idea. The reduced rent was supposed to cover just the costs of cleaning the house, upkeep and gardening. So it was serviced. Diana would not have had to do anything.

Yes, I actually think he should have. Did he only become the landowner because he was male? He has older sisters who could/should have inherited Althorp. Just because he was male, he thought it was okay to treat his sister as a paying tenant. Yuk.

You are wrong.
There was racism in the media against dodi. The feeling amongst a lot of the public is what is our beautiful Diana doing with this brown Muslim. So yes that is true.

None of us know and our judgment will be based on what we know of the parties involved.

But I would also take bias and personal antagonism into account- I certainly don’t believe it’s an unbiased record of what happened.

Charles married Diana despite being in love with another woman, who he continued to see throughout their marriage, and you think Dodi was the sleaze ?

Pretty much like the royals. Charles controls all access to the money for everyone except William, who has his own duchy to find him and Catherine

Charles Spencer has neither class nor grace. To use his sister in this way is frankly revolting.

What did you think of the mother's day cards William shared with the press, that his children made for a grandmother they had never even met?