New Memoir Details King Charles' Cold Comments On Diana's Death & Exposes How Deep His Jealousy Ran

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The world mourned the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. The ex-wife of the future king, Diana was a beloved figure who went against the norms of not just the royal family, but of common society itself, using her celebrity status to raise AIDS awareness at a time when much of the world wanted to ignore the disease. At the time of her passing, the royal family put on a show of mourning, but according to "Swan Song," a forthcoming memoir by her brother, Earl Charles Spencer, King Charles III had no sympathy for his ex-wife's family.

In the book, Spencer claims King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, lashed out at him over the phone when he objected to Prince William and Prince Harry taking part in the funeral procession. Prince Harry later recounted the debate in his book, "Spare," writing, "It seemed a lot to ask of two young boys. ... Mummy's brother, Uncle Charles, raised hell" (via Mirror). In a book excerpt given to the Daily Mail, Spencer shared the callous thing King Charles reportedly said in response: " ... 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!'"

Charles was famously jealous of the adoration Diana received throughout their troubled marriage. The Princess of Wales openly discussed it with the BBC in 1995, saying (via PBS) that when people cheered for her, he would become upset: "And you feel low about it, instead of feeling happy and sharing it." Sadly, it seems that even after her death, Charles was more caught up in legacy than mourning the loss of the mother of his children.

King Charles III reportedly struggled with the attention Diana, Princess of Wales received while she was alive, but he appears to better handle his second wife, Queen Camilla, getting good press. Jennie Bond, who used to cover the royal family for the BBC, explained to the Mirror in 2024, "I think that whereas Charles was rather jealous of Diana's success, he could not be more proud of Camilla, who has come to this role late in life and without the safety net of an adoring public." But if other reports are true, the king's jealous streak still lives on, only now it is focused on his children.

While a lot of attention is paid to the feud between William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, there are also plenty of reports about the king getting upset over how the press and his loyal subjects react to his sons. A source told Us in 2024 that whenever people praise Prince William, the king becomes envious in a way that is "similar to how he felt about Diana." And, according to historian and royal expert Dr. Tessa Dunlop, Prince William's 2024 meeting with Donald Trump in Paris also upset Charles. She explained to the Mirror, "The King, for so long overshadowed by his extraordinary mother, now finds himself outperformed by his eldest son ... " 

The king supposedly has similar feelings about his younger son, Prince Harry. Speaking with People in 2024, a family insider claimed that, "Charles' fear is a repeat of the past," going on to explain that Charles still remembers how Diana's work overshadowed his own. He reportedly worried Harry's decision to break away from the royal family would allow the same thing to happen again.