Earl Charles Spencer's controversial book "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" has topped The Sunday Times Bestsellers List, selling 102,670 copies in its first week.
The book, published last week, was described as a celebration of Diana's life, which was tragically cut short in 1997. However, it also contained damaging accusations about King Charles, including the claim he acted like a "lottery winner" when his ex-wife Diana died.
Buckingham Palace statement and criticism
Buckingham Palace released a statement suggesting that grief can "cloud memory", with the claims against the King resulting in many people criticising Earl Spencer and the book. Despite the criticism, this does not seem to have damaged its success.
The Sunday Times reports that the last memoir to break the 100k mark in one week was Spare by Prince Harry, Earl Spencer's nephew. Spare sold 467,185 copies in its first week, making it the fastest-selling non-fiction book since records began.
Earl Spencer's response and future plans
Earl Spencer has not commented on his place on The Sunday Times Bestseller List. Since the release of his book last month, he has done various interviews in which he has spoken about his book, insisting that the claims inside its pages are true, especially about King Charles.
The Earl has also said that he told Prince Harry and Prince William about the book at exactly the same time. He said Harry was "fine" with the book, and only questioned his uncle before its release about whether it had anything embarrassing about him in it.
It is believed this book is going to be the last The Earl talks about his sister. He claimed the motivation for the book came about after he kept being approached to speak about Diana ahead of the 30th anniversary of her death next year.
Royal reaction
Prince Harry and Prince William have not commented on the book publicly. However, William is reportedly "furious" about the book and its contents.
