Earl Spencer memoir sparks royal row with explosive claims about Diana and Charles

A slew of incendiary allegations have emerged in Earl Spencer’s memoir – threatening to open old wounds and ignite new royal rows.

As the Earl’s controversial tell-all, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, hits shelves in the UK, here are some of the most bombshell claims contained within the salacious 367 pages – with Buckingham Palace forced to make an “unprecedented” response.

Al Fayed ‘groping’

Earl Spencer claims Mohamed Al Fayed groped Diana early on in her romance with his son Dodi.

The disgraced businessman, who died in 2023 aged 94, remains at the centre of more than 400 allegations of sexual misconduct.

The Earl writes: “[Diana] told me with revulsion how, early in her romance with Dodi, Mohamed had come up to her, dropped a hand onto her buttocks and squeezed them while saying in a leery, suggestive tone, ‘And in Egypt, father-in-law gets first go…’”

He added: “Diana laughed as she recalled “the ghastliness of the episode.”

The Met Police are currently dealing with allegations against Al Fayed dating from 1977 to 2014.

Diana and Dodi both died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

King ‘giddy’ after Diana’s death

The Earl claims King Charles was “giddily elated like a lottery winner” when he called about Diana’s death.

The Earl, who said the phone was ringing constantly at the time, claimed in his book: “Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time.”

King Charles was also alleged to have sounded “strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster,” according to the Earl.

The excerpt continued: “Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not.

“It can be hard to feel too much sympathy for an ex-spouse, or those who care for them profoundly, after bitter divorce.”

Diana’s brother has also claimed the late Queen reacted “tetchily” to the news of his sister’s car crash.

He said she asked, “what’s she been up to now?” before the accident’s seriousness became clear.

‘We’ll forget her soon enough’

Buckingham Palace hit back last week after it emerged Spencer sensationally alleged Charles said “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough” in his memoir.

The book claims Charles “went nuts” in a discussion about the then-very young William and Harry walking behind their mum’s coffin at her funeral.

The Earl told him Diana would not have wanted her children to endure such a public ordeal, he claims.

Earl Spencer writes: “Prince Charles continued his stream of anger without me interrupting.

“Then he stopped. I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control.

“But then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death.

“Rest assured, he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!’”

Earl Spencer says he was stunned and took a few seconds before replying flatly: “I can’t believe you just said that” and hanging up.

His description of the shocking outburst threatens to reopen the wounds of the “War of the Waleses” and Prince Charles’s bitter split and eventual divorce from Diana.

And when he was asked what his nephews will make of these allegations three decades later, he said: “Well, I don’t like to talk about what I’ve been speaking about to William and Harry.

“But these words will not be a surprise to them.”

The claims about Charles have prompted an “unprecedented” response from Buckingham Palace.

A Royal spokesman said: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.”

Diana ‘offered title back’

Diana controversially lost her royal title when she and Charles divorced in 1996.

But according to Diana‘s brother, the Queen’s private secretary Robert Fellowes extended the offer to restore the title.

Earl Spencer, 62, claims he received the offer from Mr Fellowes, who died in 2024, just hours after he delivered his defiant eulogy at Diana’s funeral.

He wrote: “I felt that I knew in my bones how she would view this posthumous award.

“That’s very kind of the Queen, of course. But what’s the point, Robert? Now? I mean – Diana’s dead.”

Diana ‘wanted to cancel wedding’

Prior to marrying the then-Prince Charles in 1981, Spencer claims Diana told their father she could not go through with the wedding.

He says that his sister wanted to call off the marriage after Prince Andrew’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle just months prior.

The book reads: “Only much later did I find out the sad tale behind that night of royal birthday celebration for Diana.

“She had been greatly looking forward to being reunited with Prince Charles, who had returned that day from an official trip to New York.

“But he had shown next to no interest in her, and she – deeply hurt, confused and increasingly concerned – danced with others, including me, instead.

“Immediately after that evening of escalating heartbreak, Diana went to see my father.

“She told him she could not go through with marriage to a man who clearly did not love her.

“My father was appalled and said it was impossible to pull out of such an enormous commitment at that point.”

‘Harry’ documentary invite

Earl Spencer also appears to nod to an invitation from Harry to appear on a documentary about his late sister in his controversial book.

Last year, The Sun exclusively revealed Harry was considering options for a Diana documentary.

The Duke of Sussex has held talks over several projects amid claims he has been approaching friends and family asking them to take part, according to the Earl.

He writes: “So why write this now? With the thirtieth anniversary of Diana’s death in view, I was again declining endless requests to appear on documentaries about her…

“… from, to name a few, a nephew, from Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton, and from Tony Blair and spin doctor, Alastair Campbell.”

Queen’s ‘secret romance’

The Earl also writes that his father was romantically linked to the late Queen Elizabeth II before she ascended to the throne.

But John Spencer was warned away by Lord Mountbatten, it is claimed.

Their meeting is understood to have been before her relationship with Prince Philip.

Spencer writes: “My father, a soldier and a courtier who years before, as an equerry, had had a romantic connection with the future Queen Elizabeth II, which was ended by Lord Mountbatten.

“He summoned my father and told him that any ambitions he had for securing her affections were out of the question.”

The book has prompted an “unprecedented” response from Buckingham Palace.

A Royal spokesman said: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.”