Prince Harry's failure to publicly respond to Earl Spencer's memoir has been described as "an act of war" by royal commentator Mark Dolan, deepening concerns over the rift with Prince William.
Earl Spencer's book 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister' was published this month and has prompted a series of media interviews. In it, Spencer claims King Charles told him after Diana's death, in a private phone call, that "we'll forget her soon enough". Spencer also told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that Charles was almost "giddy" when he rang him at his home in Cape Town to explain how he had broken the tragic news to Princes William and Harry.
The then Prince of Wales is also accused of telling Diana that he was "not actually in love with her" before their 1981 wedding.
Buckingham Palace Response
Buckingham Palace hit back with a statement suggesting that "fraternal grief can cloud reason" and "affect judgement". Prince William is reportedly "absolutely furious" with Earl Spencer, both for the memoir and for attacking his father by weaponising the memory of his mother.
Harry has been in no-man's land somewhat, as he may have been aware of the book in advance when he and Meghan visited Spencer at his Althorp Estate in July. It seems implausible that he spent time with his uncle and Spencer never mentioned he had a potential bestseller about Harry's own mother about to hit the shelves in a matter of weeks.
Harry's Position
Harry can hardly criticise Spencer for attacking King Charles, because he did exactly the same in his own 2023 memoir Spare. In fact, Harry's was worse - he called Queen Camilla a "wicked stepmother" and attacked Princess Catherine and Prince William into the bargain.
Mark Dolan said: "Harry's silence in regard to this book is an act of war. My royal sources tell me that William is absolutely furious about the book, that he doesn't have a good relationship with his uncle, and he's firmly on his father's side."
There has been no public statement from William confirming Dolan's claims that he is "disgusted" by Earl Spencer's book, nor is there likely to be. If Harry wants to avoid appearing to side with Earl Spencer, or having had prior warning of the book's explosive contents and doing nothing to stop it, he could worsen the rift with William instead of trying to heal it.
