Prince William and Prince Harry's reactions to their uncle Charles Spencer's book about their mother, Princess Diana, reveal their true characters, a royal expert has claimed.
In Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Earl Spencer makes a series of claims about King Charles, including that he told him, "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough," after the princess's brother objected to her sons walking behind her coffin. The earl also alleges Charles, then the Prince of Wales, "sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner" when he spoke to the earl after the princess's death.
The earl's claims sparked a war of words with Buckingham Palace, which hit back saying "fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory".
Earl Spencer's interview revelation
In an interview on CBS Mornings on Monday, the earl gave new insight into whether he has spoken to his nephews. Host Gayle King asked him: "Have you talked to them [William and Harry] after the book?" to which Spencer replied, "Yes, I have."
She then asked whether the brothers "approve" of the book, to which Diana's brother replied: "I don't know. I haven't asked about approval.
"Harry was sort of like, 'Is there anything in there that would be embarrassing to me?' I said, 'Absolutely not.' I'm very specific about people's privacy."
Expert weighs in on brothers' reactions
Now, the Mirror's royal editor, Russell Myers, has weighed in on their reaction. He said on the Pod Save The King programme on YouTube: "There is an awful lot of sadness in William's mind. I mean, look at how many people he'd been let down by. His brother, his sister-in-law, now his uncle."
"And I thought it was quite telling that Earl Spencer said that he told both William and Harry [about the book] and Harry was the only one to respond quite selfishly saying 'Well is there anything about me that I should be worried about?'
"Now I know that William has not responded to [Earl Spencer] and he is incredibly saddened by this. There's lots of talk about generational anger and fury."
