Charles Spencer's book Diana Swan Song etc etc . Thread the second.

[BasiliskStare]

There has been interest from some who engaged with the topic , so I'm starting a new thread as we are on page 10 . I honestly didn't think it would engender so much interest.

Let me be absolutely clear here. Threads meander , and sometimes go off topic and sometimes amusingly and interestingly so. My intention with this thread is to discuss the book , related matters eg contemporaneous accounts, reviews , interviews etc I'm also , frankly, interested to see how Piers Morgan's reaction to it goes.

As has been so often said anyone is allowed to post whatever they like on a public forum. I'm just explaining why I have started this thread. I have no intention of policing it .

Let's see how it goes 😎

Wow!!! How interesting in the pre-digital age!! Thanks blue

K hi yes Charles did two time Diana from day one if you remember when they just engaged he sneaked Camilla onto a train and would keep phoning Camilla and giving her gifts and they had nicknames for each other
Diana was in love with Charles it was clear but Charles was not even aware of what love is

Your timeline is completely wrong. The train incident was November 1980. C&D got engaged in February 1981. You have no idea if Charles "two timed"(!). Diana from "day one".

Charles saw Camilla at hunts and other events when they were dating and it is documented so suggest you check your records
I do know because I was there
were you ?

"check your records"?
What records would I hold? 🤣
You were there were you, on the train, in Highgrove, at Buckingham Palace?
😂😂😂

@Cathandkin So 3 months before he got engaged to Diana! Of course he didn’t just wave bye bye to Camilla. He thought he could have both of them!

Charles saw Camilla at hunts and other events

Man attending a public event sees a woman who is attending the same public event? What does that prove?

He told you that, did he?

I suspect several hundred people 'saw Camilla at hunts and other events'; thousands if the event was televised.

I saw a snippet of an interview with Tom Bower on Instagram last night. He has been famously critical of Charles R, but doesn't believe Charles Spencer's version of events, and gives his reasons.

Instagram: Tom Bower

Someone has posted this link on another thread, apologising for the source book numbers

Yes, was just bringing that news across as well, @smilesy

Archive link is here https://archive.is/9yRH8

I don’t see how the text justifies the headline saying the book has ‘shattered records’. The text basically says the book is doing quite well compared to other books. That’s quite the hyperbolic headline ‘spin’, presumably so people will read and comment? Engagement = advertising revenue, I suppose. A bit like dear old MN.

I suppose technically it has broken one record - it is confirmed as the fastest selling hard-back non-fiction book in the UK for 2026 (so far).

It doesn't say what the previous fastest selling book was.

Some more facts and figures from The Bookseller: Swan Song beaten by Spare.

https://archive.is/YzVnb

On the accuracy issues, I've just heard Kinsey Schofield say that she has been telephoned by biographer and journalist Sally Bedell Smith* who made the point that Charles Spencer's book contradicts what he told her for her own book published in 1999.

*Her 1999 biography Diana in Search of Herself, was described by reviewers as 'a serious, clinical, and unsparing psychological profile of Diana' according to Wiki. I might try and have a look at that.

Kinsey Schofield further says that Hugo Vickers has told her that Charles Spencer's book contradicts what he told him in the past.

There's quite a pattern of this building up now.

So was Spencer lying then, or is he lying now? Perhaps it was a bit of both, to further his own interests, as ever? Possibly a bit like his four sets of wedding vows in between his aventures avec les autres.

Spare?

I meant in 2026.

Spare still remains the highest, I think.

@Cathandkin Well I think Diana thought he didn’t and it’s extremely unlikely given what’s known about them, and, of course, you don’t know any different!

I'm not making wild claims though

Thanks @bluegreygreen for that link. Given the publicity , which I agree PM contributed to - it's not surprising 1st week sales were high. Whether this book has longevity , time will tell.
Of course Spare outsold anything going initially . It was on the back of the OW interview the H&M docuuseries etc. It was huge "gossip" pretty much 50% off I believe as soon at it hit the shelves ( though I believe that is a common marketing thing) . I have read - I think Bower - that H used to phone PRH and ask where his extra royalties were ( before they had covered the advance) .

These high profile books will always do well initially. I'm not sure "Charles Spencer's book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has shattered records to become the fastest-selling hardback non-fiction title in the UK this year" selling 102,668 copies during its opening week Is that "shattering records" I don't have a comparision.
"The remarkable first-week figures also place it among the highest-selling books of any genre in Britain this year."

Perhaps CS is lucky JRK / Robert Galbraith hasn't released a book this year 😊Or indeed Richard Osman.

When I looked on my Amazon UK bestselling books page on Monday 28th, the top 3 were
1 R Osman - We Chase Shadows (published 10/09)
2 Julia Donaldson - Gruffalo Granny (published 10/09)
3 C Spencer Swan Song (published 22/09)

This evening (30th) Gruffalo Granny has held steady at 2, Swan Song is now 4, We Chase Shadows is 9.

The Bookseller has Swan Song at 1, Gruffalo Granny at 2, We Chase Shadows at 5 (figures from Nielsen).
(Apparently Gruffalo Granny was previously number 1, and remains at 1 in independent bookshops - now for 3 consecutive weeks.)

Go Gruffalo Granny!

@BasiliskStare psst… Richard Osman has released a book. It’s just not a Thursday Murder Club one 😎

https://archive.is/Gu7gy

For while the three siblings are close and determinedly loyal to each other, a source has exclusively told the Daily Mail that ‘there is a feeling in the wider Spencer family that Diana’s memory is best served by letting her rest in peace and that the book should not have been written’.