Phil Collins has attacked Earl Charles Spencer following the release of his memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, calling the book “appalling” during a teaser of his upcoming interview with Piers Morgan. The Genesis star fiercely defended King Charles while discussing the explosive memoir on air.
In the rare on-screen interview, Collins fumed: “The Spencer book is appalling. I haven't read it, and I won't be reading it, but he knows what he's doing, or the publishers know what they're doing, because everybody will want to read the book. That's obvious.”
Collins defends King Charles
During the interview, which is set to air on Friday night's instalment (October 2) of The Royal's Uncensored, Collins was asked whether he thought King Charles would ever have been “giddily elated” in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death, as described in the book. He simply replied: “No, I don't think that happened at all.”
Speaking about his own dealings with the King, Collins added: “I've been with the Prince's Trust, now the King's Trust, for 40 years and during that time, I've met the Prince and now the King many times. I'd get letters from him, just personal letters. I used to see him an awful lot with the Trust, and I went to a garden party not long ago, to the King's Trust at the Palace. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him.”
Call for charity donation
Collins concluded: “I would feel a lot better about it if he did donate all the proceeds to charity or Diana's charity… It's a shame he feels he has to resort to this. I don't see any winners out of this, apart from the publishers who, unless they give the money away, are going to make a lot of money and Spencer, depending on what his deal is with the publishers.”
The comments come after the Earl launched a new two-word attack at King Charles, claiming the Palace statement issued on the King's behalf was “very aggressive”. Speaking to Tina Brown, the former magazine editor, at a book event in New York on Tuesday (September 29), the Earl also said that the King has not denied the claims, before accusing the Palace of “gaslighting” with their statement.
Earl Spencer said: “[Charles] had the opportunity to not say anything or to deny it, and he did neither.”
