BREAKING NEWS: Harry’s uncle drops another bombshell in first interview after palace reaction
Earl Spencer doubles down on bombshell King Charles phone call claim as Diana’s brother breaks his silence after Palace response
Earl Spencer has dramatically doubled down on his extraordinary claim about a private conversation with King Charles, insisting he is “telling the truth” after Buckingham Palace appeared to challenge his recollection of events surrounding Princess Diana’s funeral.
In his first major interview since the Palace responded to his allegations, Diana’s younger brother delivered an uncompromising message: he stands by every word.
Speaking to the BBC at his Althorp estate, Earl Spencer was asked about his claim that the then-Prince of Wales told him, in the days following Diana’s death, that the family would “forget her soon enough”.
The alleged remark is at the centre of a fresh controversy over one of the darkest periods in the Royal Family’s history.
Spencer has claimed that Charles made the comment during a conversation about whether Princes William and Harry should walk behind their mother’s coffin during her funeral procession.
But Buckingham Palace has disputed the account — without directly addressing the alleged words themselves.
In a carefully worded statement, the 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”.
The response has now prompted Spencer to go on the offensive.
Asked whether he believed the Palace was furious with him, Spencer replied: “Well, is he furious? Is he furious or is he embarrassed?”
He then offered an unusually emphatic defence of his recollection.
“I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said,” Spencer insisted.
The Earl explained that his memory of the conversation was particularly strong because he had only spoken to Charles privately on the telephone twice in his entire life.
“I was hyper alert to what he was saying,” he told the BBC.
“And those are precisely the words that he said and I promise that to you now. Genuinely, that is what he said.”
Asked whether he had any evidence to substantiate the conversation, Spencer acknowledged that he did not have a recording or written transcript.
Instead, he said he had immediately told family and friends about the exchange because of how shocking he found it.
He described the alleged comment as “monstrous”.
The dispute has now become a remarkable clash between two men named Charles and Spencer who were once connected by one of the most painful chapters in the Royal Family’s modern history.
Spencer also appeared to take aim at the Palace’s carefully worded response.
“They’ve sort of smudged that one, haven’t they?” he said.
“They’ve said that recollections may vary.”
His most striking comment came when he was asked a simple but explosive question: when two different versions of a private conversation exist, which Charles should the public believe?
“I’m telling the truth,” Spencer replied.
The interview threatens to reignite debate over Diana’s final years and the extraordinary events that followed her death in Paris in August 1997.
Her funeral became one of the most watched royal occasions in modern British history, with the decision for William and Harry to walk behind their mother’s coffin remaining a particularly sensitive subject.
Spencer has previously spoken about his concerns surrounding the funeral procession, while the latest claims have opened a new front in the long-running discussion about how Diana’s death affected her family.
The Palace’s response has added another layer of intrigue because it did not explicitly accuse Spencer of lying.
Instead, its reference to grief affecting memory has left room for competing interpretations of what happened during the private conversation.
Spencer, however, appears unwilling to let the issue fade.
The BBC has shared footage from the interview on its official Instagram account, ensuring his extraordinary comments will reach a much wider audience.
And with Spencer now publicly insisting that he remembers the conversation precisely, the controversy has developed into a striking war of recollections — one that could place renewed attention on the relationship between Diana’s family and the Royal Family more than two decades after her death.
For now, there is no independent recording of the alleged telephone conversation.
But Spencer’s message is unmistakable: he is standing by his account, and the Palace’s carefully worded response has done little to persuade him to withdraw it.
