Royals emerge victorious over Diana’s brother one week after his book threatened to destabilise the monarchy

Analysis: Earl Spencer’s book tour has moved to New York where he is attempting to convince readers there of his version of events 30 years ago amid accusations he is trying to destroy King Charles’ reputation.

One week on from the publication of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister the earl has a tough battle on his hands as he sits down with Tina Brown, the former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, today.

The journalist had lunch with the late royal one month before her death and has always maintained Diana and her ex-husband were on good terms before her death, at odds with the earl’s claims made against King Charles in his book.

The earl’s memoir has sparked a war of words between him and Buckingham Palace over what really happened in the days after Diana’s death in 1997, including the king’s reaction to the tragedy, prompting a hasty, but strongly worded, statement from the palace within hours of the first extract being published.

Some of the earl’s recollections have since been questioned, and in many ways discredited, after the admission of a factual inaccuracy relating to Piers Morgan, who has launched legal action.

The credibility of Swan Song has also taken a blow as courtiers and allies of the monarch, who were present at the time, have since come out to publicly say that Charles was distraught with grief, in stark contrast to the allegations in the earl’s book.

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A week ago, the publication of the book loomed over the royal family and threatened to destabilise the monarchy just months after it had started to recover from the hellish start to the year when Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested following the fallout over his past friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The earl, many suggested, was out for revenge disguised as loyalty towards his late sister, and had his former brother-in-law in his sights. He was also criticised for cashing in on Diana despite claiming he would never do so.

But King Charles and his family got on with business amid the seemingly endless coverage of the earl’s book and his allegations, which included the claims that the then-Prince of Wales told him: “We’ll forget her soon enough”. The earl also claims Charles “sounded giddily elated” when speaking of Diana’s passing.

Earl Spencer later strongly denied his book was a “hit piece” directed at King Charles, saying he could write such a book if he wanted to.

“The bits that have been included in the book are totally in context,” the earl said on ITV last week.

“If I wanted to write a hit piece on the royal family, I could do that. That’s not my job. My job in this book was to celebrate Diana − it’s exactly the same as with the eulogy. By doing that, other people are going to come off not as well as they might want to.”

In a week that could have had lasting repercussions for the reign of King Charles the royal family has emerged victorious, weathering the Earl Spencer storm.

King Charles got on with the job in Scotland while the Prince and Princess of Wales carried out numerous engagements, continuing overnight with visit to a rugby pitch.

Prince William and Catherine surprised former professional rugby league player turned coach Sir Kevin Sinfield as he completes an ultramarathon challenge in memory of his late teammate Rob Burrow, raising money for motor neurone disease research.

At an engagement last week, William refused to comment on his uncle’s book when questioned by a journalist and on Tuesday, there was no mention of it or the other issue giving the royal family a headache: the return to Britain by Prince Harry and Meghan.

Instead, William and Catherine kept their focus on the footy, praising Sir Kevin’s fundraising efforts. The prince joked that he had been “dreading” getting a call from Sir Kevin to join his ultramarathon challenge, saying “I can’t do Lycra... that’s my line”.

The re-telling of Diana’s story now, and the painful days and weeks after her death, comes ahead of the 30th anniversary of the tragedy, to be commemorated next year.

Earlier this week, it was reported that William had rejected multiple proposals to appear in or produce documentary tributes to his late mother.

According to The Sunday Times, the 30th anniversary marks a “difficult situation” for William and he remains “really emotional” about Diana’s death. The publication claims his refusal to take part in documentary projects is partly to avoid further conflict with his brother Prince Harry.

Speaking in the US while publicising his book this week, Earl Spencer said he had spoken to both his nephews about his memoir since its publication. He was asked by Gayle King on CBS Mornings about whether William or Harry had approved of its contents.

He said: “I don’t know. I haven’t asked about approval.”

Last week he told People that Harry had sought assurances there was not anything “embarrassing” about him in it. Both brothers had expressed concerns about how their father would be portrayed.

The earl insisted he was “not in any way compromising their privacy at all”.

His memories of King Charles’ reaction to Diana’s death were expected to be challenged by Brown, who has written extensively on the late princess.

Brown, when she was editor of The New Yorker, met Diana for lunch one month before her death at the Four Seasons Restaurant. They were joined by Anna Wintour who was then Vogue’s editor-in-chief.

Brown has always claimed Diana and Charles were on good terms in the end and had got past the infamous years dubbed in the media as the War of the Wales’.

“At the end of Diana’s life, she and Charles were on the best terms they’d been for a very long time,” Brown told The Telegraph UK in 2020.

“Charles got into the habit of dropping in on her at Kensington Palace and they would have tea and a sort of rueful exchange. They even had some laughs together. 

“It was definitely calming down, the boys were older. They talked about their philanthropies. And she had accepted Camilla. One thing she had finally done was really understand that Camilla was the love of his life, and there was just nothing she could do about it. 

“But she said to me at that lunch that she would go back to Charles in a heartbeat if he wanted her.”

Brown’s conversation with the earl will no doubt generate more headlines. But as we have seen from the royal family in the week since Swan Song’s publication day, getting on with business and ignoring the noise is the best way to move past any attempted smear campaign.