Discussion about Charles Spencer's book - Swan Song : Diana, my sister , Beautiful, Beloved, Hunted.

[BasiliskStare]

I know there is a thread about the theft of some pre publication editions of this book.
This thread is more by way of a book club discussion about the actual book , the text. Threads will go where they will , but my intention is this is more for me to give my opinion on the book and for others who read it or are interested in the book to join in. I have pre-ordered from Kindle (half price otherwise I may not have 😊) But is only available on September 22nd. So a holding place if you like.

Unfortunately for him, the family silver is finite so the motive of using the book to make money is looking increasingly likely. I look forward to hearing what it contains and whether he has a cat in hells chance of a substantial pay day

I look forward to hearing what it contains and whether he has a cat in hells chance of a substantial pay day

Well if it bombs, we’ve all got the threat of another book with all the other things he ‘knows’ about KC.

Didn't H say he kept a lot of things out of his book too?

Sinister pair of fuckers.

The book has just been suggested on our village book club page.

The group has one very staunch monarchist (think sleeping in a tiny tent on the mall the night before the coronation despite being in her 70s) and one republican who has said she actually thinks they should all be imprisoned (since you’re not allowed to behead them anymore).

I’m torn between really wanting them to pick it and really not 😂

Yeah. If it gets picked? That book club day is going to need gin @JustAnotherWhinger 😁

I think his attacks on KC are spiteful and designed to make a more tabloid attractive story for the drama, however the passage about how it felt to be in that funeral walk with the sounds and silences and sobbing from the crowds is very evocative.

You do feel as though you are right there with him.

It must be hard on William and Harry the times they’ve had to walk behind a coffin again - Queen Mother was only a few years later. Then PP and the Queen.

I wonder if it came back to William in some way the other week when he walked in the Norwegian King’s funeral?

Getting back to the book - Charles Spencer appears to have annoyed someone else

Why is he obliged to paint her as ‘nice’? If he is transparent that these are his thoughts and reflections of how her behaviour impacted him and / or the tension in their relationship then that’s OK. CS has a unique perspective, arguably the only person on the planet with an insight to the dysfunctional childhood that shaped her core. Everyone knows the context - he said / she said. Maybe his revelations about her being sexually assaulted and her secret were intended to explain her dysfunctional and manipulative behaviour - multiple affairs with married men, stalking, parentification of her child, manipulation of the media, emotional neglect of her children, falling out with son many people - family and friends - in that she was the common denominator and in his compassionare maybe explains it’s but doesnt excuse it. Complicated, challenging, unpredictable, victim and survivor - how or why should or could she be. ‘Nice’?

Al-Fayed groped Diana at the very end of her life - that revelation wouldn't explain anything about the dynamics of her relationships.

Why would Charles Spencer have a greater insight into the shaping of Diana's psyche as they grew up then her sisters have - the sisters Spencer never told he was writing the book and whom he admits he hurt as a result. He was the longed-for son and heir. She was the disappointment of yet another daughter. Her sisters would understand that family dynamic and the effect it has better than him (he seems to be perpetuating it with his own children, he's so oblivious to it). Spencer was sent to boarding school from the age of 8. I suspect Diana's sisters had a better understanding of and affinity with Diana. One of them had even dated Prince Charles!

My point about Spencer not painting a nice picture of Diana was in response to a poster who was alleging - without any evidence whatsoever - that the royal family were smearing Diana, and I simply responded that Spencer's account of Diana is what is actually representing her in a bad light.

Of course, Spencer can write about whatever subject he wants, but - especially given his attack on King Charles for supposedly being beastly - it should also be pointed out that, rather than being the great defender of Diana, as he wants us to believe, his book and his interviews actually damage her reputation.

Not everything has to be said, there's no need to conduct a forensic analysis on every but of gossip or rumour, not every salacious tidbit needs to be advertised, not every smouldering grievance needs to be lashed out at. Diana really should just be left to rest in peace.

I do think it’s a bit odd that he didn’t speak to his sisters about writing the book, especially when you consider that Jane and her family also lived at Kensington Palace.

Of the three siblings she would likely have been the most aware of what was going on, even without her husbands job working for the Queen, as even during periods where they didn’t talk she and Diana would still have seen each other around.

One of her daughters is a godparent to one of William’s children, the only one of the Spencer cousins who was chosen which suggests at least a basic closeness.

It’s got fairly high votes already.

I think popcorn will be required that day as well 😂

TBF even if he has levelled him on this occasion, you can see why CS would hate Piers Morgan given that one of the latter's first scandals involving publishing a story about the former 's first wife's eating disorder. As mentioned in PMs Wikipedia page.

I’m not sure anyone likes Piers Morgan particularly, but you still can’t libel someone, and this is a monumental mistake that Charles Spencer has made

Absolutely you can. He’s an odious man who has done/sanctioned some vile things.

It is a pity it wasn’t done in a way that meant the story about the Mirror groups behaviour with the gym photos (which was absolutely appalling) and anything specifically Piers morgan was done with careful detailing so it could stand.

Sorry about typo of levelling for libelling btw.

Auto Incorrect strikes again.

Piers Morgan's video statement on TwiX, for anyone who wants to watch it

Piers Morgan Uncensored

Apologies - I intended that post for a different thread and it's too late to edit it.

OK every time someone mentions Diana having affairs with married men I feel obliged to point out that Prince Charles had a coterie of married women with whom he slept before he married and Camilla remember regularly slept with a married women very soon after they had given birth.

Can we just stop with the double standard?

Sorry? Camilla slept with married women who had given birth?

Zac Goldsmith is also on TwiX criticising Spencer for cashing in on his dead sister.

Is that particularly relevant to the point being made about Diana's biography on the book discussion thread?

Another string to her bow.

😂

It’s not monumental. Who cares about Piers Morgan honestly? Mainly Piers Morgan 😀

Piers Morgan will make the most of it and shout as loud as he can but hasn’t he been sacked for lying, so doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on with his moral outrage! He’s horrid imho!

Ask the poster who brought it up in the first place!

Anyway, the reviews of the book are coming in and it’s a lousy two stars from the Telegraph’s Anita Singh.

‘Charles Spencer’s book isn’t about Diana. It’s a monument to his ego’

‘At last, Swan Song is here. But while the Earl’s attacks on the King are one thing, his self-obsession and pomposity may appal you more’

Oh dear.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/swan-song-earl-spencer-review/