Charles Spencer says he still remembers every word of that call.
It was 1997, just days after his sister Diana died in an accident in Paris. A palace aide had informed him that his nephews, 15-year-old William and 12-year-old Harry, would walk alongside the coffin. Then the phone rang: then-Prince Charles, on the other end, tense. As Spencer recounts in his new book “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister”, due out on September 22, Charles told him something that left him speechless: “We’ll forget her soon”.
However, Buckingham Palace later questioned Spencer’s recollection. A spokesperson noted that the profound grief over Diana’s loss could have affected his perception of that conversation. “The pain of sibling grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss”, the spokesperson said.
