Earl Spencer's wife, Professor Cat Jarman, has broken her silence following the publication of her husband's controversial book about Princess Diana. In a post on her Instagram account, Prof Jarman celebrated the book's release day, saying she is "incredibly proud" of the earl.
Wife's tribute on publication day
Prof Jarman wrote: "Happy publication day, @charles.earl.spencer! I am incredibly proud of you." She added that she has been "endlessly impressed by your resilience and determination this past year, from the moment you decided to go ahead with this project: all those mornings you got up at 4am to write; some days the memories you unearthed were glorious, others they were utterly heartbreaking."
She continued: "I'm so pleased people can finally read Swan Song for themselves and get a glimpse into the sister you wrote this book for. I feel very lucky to be by your side."
Book's allegations and backlash
The memoir, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has made headlines around the world for its allegations against King Charles. The earl claims the King, then the Prince of Wales, said about Diana, "we'll forget her soon enough" during an argument over whether the then Princes William and Harry should walk behind their mother's coffin in her funeral procession. The memoir also alleges the King "sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner" when he spoke to the earl after Diana's death.
The claims sparked a strongly worded response from Buckingham Palace, which 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".
Earl's defence and Piers Morgan row
Interviewed on the ITV show Lorraine, Diana's brother insisted the book was not a "hit piece on the King". He said: "This is about Diana. It was impossible to give the full story of Diana's life without putting certain things in context."
Former tabloid editor Piers Morgan has claimed the Royal Family are "spitting blood" over the memoir and that the earl wants to "destroy" the reputation of the King. Mr Morgan has called on Diana's brother to pulp the remaining copies of his book and instructed his lawyers to demand the work be pulled from sale immediately. The earl repeated his apology after wrongly suggesting in his book that Mr Morgan was responsible for publishing photographs taken with hidden cameras of Diana in a leotard working out at the gym in the Daily Mirror in 1993. Mr Morgan was working at The Sun at the time and did not join the Mirror as its editor until 1995.
