Key takeaways from BBC interview as Earl Spencer defends claims about King

Earl Spencer has told the BBC writing his book about sister Princess Diana, which has made headlines for its criticism of King Charles, was his "duty...as an eyewitness to history".

In an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg ahead of the memoir's release on Tuesday, Earl Spencer said he wanted "to put things down once and for all that were true".

Among claims made in Swan Song about the King, who was then the Prince of Wales, was that he said "we'll forget her soon enough" during an argument over whether Princes William and Harry should walk in Diana's funeral procession.

In a strongly worded response, Buckingham Palace said the King was "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss".

Here are the key moments from Earl Spencer's interview, which include his first account of how he was told about Diana's death and criticism of press coverage of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Earl initially told Diana's crash was 'not too serious'

Earl Spencer was in South Africa when Princess Diana died in a Paris car crash in the early hours of 31 August 1997, along with close friend Dodi Fayed and the driver of the car.

He told the BBC he got a call in the middle of the night from his sister Lady Jane Fellowes, who said Princess Diana had been in a crash but "it's not too serious".

But then he "kept getting more and more distressing calls" from his sister.

"And then my sister Jane said, 'I'm afraid she's died.' It started... as a little prang, and then it became a broken leg, perhaps a head injury, and then death."

Charles had 'giddy tone' after Diana's death

Describing the hours after her death, Earl Spencer said he took a call at his home in Cape Town from Prince Charles, who told him how he broke the news to Princes William and Harry at Balmoral Castle.

"I felt there was a sort of giddy tone," he told the BBC.

"I'd had a lot of calls that day from people who cared, who were stunned... and I just felt there was a lightness in his tone about Diana's death that really jarred with me."

In his book, Earl Spencer compares his tone to like a "lottery winner" and says he suspects the prince's reaction was based on how this event would free him to marry the woman he loved, his future wife Queen Camilla.

When asked by Kuenssberg if he could be sure that is what Prince Charles was thinking, Earl Spencer said: "I cannot be sure, I'm saying that's what I assume from the tone is a possibility."

Comments 'will not be a surprise' to William and Harry

Earl Spencer told the BBC he had been discussing funeral arrangements with a palace official, who said it had been agreed Princes William and Harry should walk behind their mother's coffin. Unhappy, he said he told the official it is not what his sister would have wanted, before the conversation came to an end.

Soon after, the earl says he took a call from Prince Charles, who asked him about his opposition to it.

"I said, 'Well, of course not, sir, she wouldn't want it'. And then he said, 'Well, I walked behind Lord Mountbatten's coffin.' And I said, 'Yes, but you were 30 and he wasn't your mother'."

He then claims Charles went "ballistic... and ranted for a while" about the Spencer's sense of duty not being adequate enough before "he said 'We'll forget her [Diana] soon enough'."

"I really was so stunned and after a stunned silence I said 'I can not believe you just said that' and I hung up on him", the earl told Kuenssberg during his sit down interview at his Althorp estate.

Responding to the Palace's statement pushing back on the story, Earl Spencer said: "I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said.

"I've only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage in my life.

"I was hyper-alert to what he was saying, and those are precisely the words he said. And I promise that to you now. Genuinely, that is what he said.

"I don't hear him saying he didn't say that."

The earl said he told "close friends and family" about the "monstrous" comment.

When asked if people should believe him or the King, he said: "Well, I'm telling the truth... what else would have made me hang up on the King that day?"

On what Princes William and Harry might think of the comments being brought up nearly 30 years later, he added the words "will not be a surprise" to the brothers.

He also said his renowned funeral eulogy , in which he said his sister's qualities would never be "extinguished from our minds", was a "direct rebuttal" of the prince's comments.

'I know lots of things about the King' not in the book

Talking about his motivations for writing the book, Earl Spencer, aged 62, said it was his "duty... as an eyewitness to history" and as someone in the "final season of my life" with his parents dying in their sixties.

"I'm aware of mortality and I wanted to just put things down once and for all that were true," the historian and journalist explained.

"This is not a threat, it's a fact, I know lots of things about the King which I chose not to include in the book because they were not relevant."

When put to him that the statement sounded like a threat when it involved potentially damaging information, he said: "No, not at all a threat, it's just the reality."

Kuenssberg questioned why he included an account of a conversation in which his sister told him Prince Charles was in love with his valet - a claim Earl Spencer said was improbable - and asked if he was motivated in including some of these allegations to create interest to sell the book.

"It's in the context of a conversation where Diana is telling me that her marriage is over," the earl replied.

"It's a brother's tribute, a loving tribute to a sister. And I think she deserves honesty so that's what I've delivered."

Harry and Meghan's media treatment 'echoes' Diana

When asked about how he thinks Prince Harry has been treated by the Royal Family, Earl Spencer told the BBC he is reluctant to discuss it, but he said he was concerned about his security.

"I would say that I personally worry about the fifth-in-line to the throne who's served in the military not having any police protection," he said.

"As an uncle who's seen his sister die in very, very preventable circumstances, that I would veer towards protection."

It is understood the committee that oversees royal and VIP security, known as Ravec, is to reconsider Prince Harry and Meghan's level of police protection now they and their two children are full-time residents in the UK rather than visitors.

When asked about how the press treated Princess Diana and now Prince Harry and Meghan, he said tabloid articles "could be really really unpleasant".

"It would really be beholden on people to learn from Diana's example. I'm not here to speak for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone who's being destroyed in this way daily, it must be such a cancerous influence in their life," Earl Spencer said.

"[Diana] was really brought low by all that criticism. And yeah I suppose it's a pity when I see echoes of that now."

Earl Spencer said he did not take sides - as he perceives is the "perception in the media" - in the dispute between Princes William and Harry.

"I'm on my deceased sister's sons' side, both of them. And if either of them wanted anything then I'd be equally there for them," he said.

"And I never get involved in one camp or the other, except as a benign figure I hope."

He said there are a "lot of reasons on both sides" why the brothers' relationship had "got to this stage".

"I hope one day it's resolved, but I don't know all – I certainly don't know what's been done in the finer detail and so I would feel intrusive if I got more involved than to say of course a mother would want her two sons to be happy together and love each other," he said.

Diana 'convinced she couldn't trust people' after Bashir interview

Reflecting on the time before Princess Diana's death, Kuenssberg asked if the infamous BBC Panorama interview with journalist Martin Bashir in 1995 might have been linked indirectly to his sister finding herself in Paris in 1997.

Shortly after the interview broadcast, in which Princess Diana admitted having an affair and said Prince Charles's affair with then-Camilla Parker Bowles made her feel worthless, the Queen wrote to Prince Charles and Princess Diana telling them to divorce.

A 2021 inquiry found Bashir acted in a "deceitful" way by mocking up fake bank statements - which falsely suggested individuals were being paid to keep Diana under surveillance - and showing them to Earl Spencer to gain access to the late princess.

Earl Spencer said he did make "a connection" between the crash and the Panorama interview and said they conned both him and Diana.

"People said, 'Oh, she was paranoid'. She wasn't paranoid. She was convinced that she couldn't trust people because the evidence was there. And, you know, I think that left her vulnerable that night."

The BBC and Bashir apologised to King Charles, Earl Spencer and Princes William and Harry after the 2021 report was published.

The BBC's then-director general, Tim Davie, said: "Although the report states that Diana, Princess of Wales, was keen on the idea of an interview with the BBC, it is clear that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. We are very sorry for this."

Earl Spencer, the ninth earl of an aristocratic family whose peerage dates back to the 18th Century and retains its vast estate, told the BBC he is "all for a monarchy, but I like a modern monarchy".

Talking about the "jarring" protocol around the monarchy, he said: "You know, you mentioned the statement earlier, 'His Majesty says", I just don't think it's healthy for a human being to be seen in such archaic, servile terms."

When Kuenssberg asked him if he supported this monarchy, following the damning book he has just written, he said: "I do."

He added when challenged: "Well, I'm not dealing with King Charles as monarch in this book, this is all 30-odd years ago and what was said and done then."

An emotional tribute to a sister he misses every day

As the interview came to an end, Earl Spencer was asked whether he would ever be able to get over his sister's death.

Visibly emotional, he said he misses Diana "every day", adding "that's the thing with sibling loss, you never get over it."

But his upcoming book, he said, is a way for him to have a final say on Diana's life before stepping off "into the sunset".

"One of the reasons I called this Swan Song actually is because it's my sign off," he said.

"I have been Diana's brother, this is my final take on the situation… I'm not here to bang on about Diana, this is my final word, a celebration of her."

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