Princess Diana's Brother Shut Down Conspiracies About Her Death — But Reality May Be Even More Grim

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In the nearly 30 years since Princess Diana's life was tragically cut short as the result of a high-speed car crash on August 31, 1997, the events of that fateful night have become a hotbed of conspiracy theories. One of the most prominent rumors about Diana's death that refuses to go away, despite being repeatedly debunked, is that the crash was no accident, but was instead orchestrated by the royal family itself — including her ex-husband, King Charles III (then Prince Charles). Notably, one person who does not buy this theory in the slightest is Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, otherwise known as the 9th Earl Spencer. That being said, his account doesn't let Charles off the hook entirely either. Rather than painting the king as some sort of cloak-and-dagger conspirator, however, Spencer alleges something arguably far bleaker about his former brother-in-law's behavior in the fallout of Diana's death: Cold indifference. 

During a September 2026 interview with People, Earl Spencer asserted his belief that, according to the official investigation, his beloved sister's death was the unfortunate result of circumstance, rather than any grand, overarching plot. "I've never believed in the conspiracy theory, because if somebody was conspiring to kill somebody very high profile like that, I don't think that would be the manner that it would happen in. First of all, nobody planned for Diana to go through that tunnel that night," he asserted. Spencer elaborated, "The fact that it ended up tragically being a car crash, I think, is purely a coincidence." He added, "By the way, if I thought otherwise, I would say so. I just don't see it." Notably, something else that the earl claims he didn't see (or, rather, hear), was any overt display of grief on Charles' part when Diana died.

The saga between Charles Spencer and King Charles III began on September 17. The Daily Mail published an excerpt from the 9th Earl Spencer's new book, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," in which he recounts a phone call that occurred shortly after Diana died. "[Charles] sounded giddily elated — like a lottery winner," the author dishes of the future monarch, who had been divorced from the People's Princess for about a year. But Charles' coldest comment about Diana's death was yet to come. In his book, Spencer also writes that the next time they spoke, he flew into a rage following an argument over Diana's funeral plans. "'Rest assured,' he hissed, 'we'll forget her soon enough!'" the earl recalls, confessing that this particular comment stunned him into silence. 

Notably, Earl Spencer still didn't point the finger at Charles for Diana's death. "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," he reasons in "Swan Song." While Buckingham Palace did not outright deny his account, it did issue a statement alluding to how "grief can cloud reason" and "color memory," per the BBC. 

The earl pushed back during a subsequent interview with the Daily Mail, admitting, "It is not every day you wake up to find you've been gaslit by the king." Spencer continued, "It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I'd lied without the king being able to deny what I'd said." He doubled down on his claims with People, reiterating that Charles sounded weirdly upbeat during that initial phone-call.