Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'elated' in call right after Diana's death

Charles Spencer, the younger brother of the late Princess Diana, has claimed in a memoir that King Charles III sounded elated during a phone call immediately after Diana's death in 1997. Buckingham Palace responded by suggesting that grief over the loss of a sibling can distort memory.

According to the BBC on Thursday (local time), Spencer recounted in his memoir, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" — due for release in Britain and the United States on Monday — the moment he learned of Diana's death by phone in the middle of the night at his home in Cape Town, South Africa, on Aug. 31, 1997.

Spencer said he received a call from King Charles III shortly after hearing the news. "Unlike others who were too shocked to offer condolences or find any words at all, he sounded elated, as if he had won the lottery," Spencer said. "That is what I remember thinking at the time."

Spencer also said that in a call ahead of Diana's funeral, King Charles III told him, "Don't worry, we will all forget about her soon."

The memoir also addresses Diana's marriage. Spencer said he heard from a friend of Diana's that King Charles III told her the day before their wedding, "I am glad we are getting married, but I don't love you." Spencer added that Diana endured the marriage out of her love for her two sons.

Buckingham Palace, in a statement issued through a spokesperson on Wednesday, said it does not comment on books as a matter of principle, but added that "the King is mindful that grief over the loss of a sibling can cloud reason, affect judgment and distort memory."

The statement continued: "Even after many years have passed since such a loss, a person may not be aware of those effects."

Buckingham Palace, however, stopped short of directly disputing the content of the phone call Spencer described or offering an alternative account.

A spokesperson for Prince Harry said he had no wish to comment on the memoir. The Daily Telegraph reported that Spencer had not informed Prince William or Prince Harry of the claims in the book before its publication.

Spencer said he wrote the book to correct false narratives surrounding his sister.

Diana married King Charles III in 1981 and had two sons with him. The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. She died in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997, at the age of 36. Her funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on Sept. 6 of that year.