Earl Spencer has accused King Charles of "gaslighting" him in a furious row over Princess Diana, denying that he wrote his new memoir because of money. The Earl said his late sister would be "cheering from the rafters" at his book titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.
Spencer's reaction comes amid the Royal Family's fury over a string of explosive claims made in the memoir, including that Charles allegedly said of Diana: "We'll forget her soon enough". The extracts provoked a highly unusual response from the Palace.
Palace response disputed
In a statement released last Wednesday, the Palace said: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."
The Palace's spokesman disputed the Earl's account, saying that fraternal grief can "cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory".
Earl hits back
Last night, in his first newspaper interview since the bitter exchange began, Earl Spencer, 62, responded to the Palace's remarks. He said the main reason for writing the story was to tell the truth as a historian.
"My motivation in this book has been to tell the truth about Diana and all she had to put up with in her public life through the eyes of the brother who grew up with her," he told The Daily Mail.
He accused the Palace of gaslighting. The Earl said: "It is not every day you wake up to find you've been gaslit by the King. It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I'd lied without the King being able to deny what I'd said.
"I also thought it was a rather poor imitation of the 'recollections may vary' quote, which was a much more elegant way of putting things, but in these circumstances entirely out of place."
He added: "I can tell you that Diana would be cheering from the rafters at this book, I have no doubt about that."
Former tutor reacts
Former Tory MP Rory Stewart, who tutored Prince Harry and Prince William, "simply cannot believe" that the King said what Spencer claims. He told BBC: "It's just not his character, it's not his personality. Never ever have I heard him say anything like that."
