It’s been a week since the release of Charles, the Earl Spencer’s bombshell memoir, Swan Song: My Sister, Diana, and the furore surrounding the book shows no signs of slowing down, writes heatworld.com.
With explosive claims about the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death and her relationship with King Charles, the book has shone a new light on one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Royal Family.
Days after its release, Charles’ alleged behaviour in the hours following Diana’s tragic death in 1997 hit headlines globally. In one chapter, the Earl recalls a chilling remark he says was made to him by Charles who, full of ‘contempt’ for his ex-wife’s popularity, allegedly fumed, ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!’
The Earl also depicts Charles as cold and cruel in the wake of his sister’s death, going as far as to describe him as ‘giddily elated’ and comparing his emotions to that of a ‘lottery winner’
The Palace furiously hit back with a statement which read, ‘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.’
Then, just days after this statement was made, the attention of the public and press seemed to pivot to the Earl’s claims that Diana had split from Charles because, as allegedly said in her own words, ‘My husband is in love with his valet’.
The valet was not named in the book but unsubstantiated rumours have circulated since back in the nineties about a close friendship between Charles and a former aide.
At the time, the claims first came from another valet who struggled with depression and alcoholism and were denied by the Palace, without any details disclosed. The late valet George Smith previously alleged to have witnessed an incident involving a senior royal and palace staff member.
Now a source claims the King, 77, remains ‘enraged’ and ‘on edge’ following the book’s release – leading to a tense atmosphere behind Palace walls, especially for Queen Camilla.
An insider says, ‘All the King can talk about right now is this book and everything it’s dredged up. He’s enraged and can’t believe that there was nothing that could be done to stop this.
‘The worst part is that he’s now having to worry about who will come after him next, and what they might say; it’s left him totally on edge. He can’t sleep, he’s hardly eating, and he’s so short tempered, which is making him very hard to live with.
‘Camilla is trying to be sympathetic but she doesn’t have a whole lot of patience because she’s going through her own turmoil with all of this, she feels attacked, too. The whole atmosphere is very toxic.’
And while Charles’ reputation may have taken the biggest blow, the book’s portrayal of Camilla, 79, has been far from flattering. She is only mentioned in passing in some sections, but the Earl makes it clear that he believes the Queen was at the heart of the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage.
Among the Earl’s recollections is an alleged conversation between Diana and a friend on the eve of her wedding, during which he claims she told her confidante that while Charles was ‘very happy to marry her’, he was not actually in love with her.
Elsewhere, Spencer recalls allegations that Charles had a secret ‘rendezvous’ on the royal train in 1980, just weeks before his wedding to Diana. He writes, ‘As it was not Diana, then who was the blonde? After her marriage took the direction it did, Diana became convinced that she must have been Camilla Parker-Bowles.’
However, we’re told that with so much on his own plate, Camilla fears Charles is ‘so wrapped up in his own misery’ that he has failed to notice that she has been dragged into the whole scandal, too.
‘Earl Spencer doesn’t directly take jabs at Camilla in his book, but he certainly alludes to her involvement in his sister’s divorce. The reality is that Camilla was the other woman so with everybody dissecting Charles and Diana’s marriage, there’s simply no way she isn’t going to be in the conversation,’ the source says.
‘It’s very difficult for Camilla to have everyone talking about her this way again, she’s worked so hard to distance herself from this narrative, she’s horrified that it’s back in the headlines.
‘She’s complaining that he’s so wrapped up in his own misery that he’s forgetting that she’s getting dragged through the mud as well. In her view, as her husband he should be looking after her right now.’
Of course, the timing of the book is terrible. Not only does the King continue to receive cancer treatment, but he also continues to navigate Prince Harry’s UK return, as well as rumours of a fractious relationship with Prince William and the investigation of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was arrested in February under suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The source says, ‘Every day there seems to be a new drama with Harry, he’s got Andrew’s mess with Epstein and the potential for legal proceedings still looming and now Sarah Ferguson is back in the scene threatening her own tell-all, it’s no wonder he’s at his wit’s end. It’s just one crisis after another.’
However, the source warns there could be ‘no end in sight’ to the stress following reports that the making of a three-part documentary, titled Diana Unheard, is already underway after the production company secured hours of intimate recordings made by Diana.
The recordings, made by the Princess during the breakdown of her marriage to Charles, are reported to contain details about the King, as well as Queen Camilla and even Andrew.
Now the source confirms, ‘Unfortunately, there is no end in sight because this has opened the floodgates, it seems like every day there’s some old dreadful story from the past being recycled, all thanks to Lord Spencer and his horrible book full of what they both insist are poisonous lies.
‘Normally Camilla is the person who can snap him out of a bad mood and get him to calm down, but she hasn’t got the patience for it right now. Charles is short-tempered at the best of times and he’s even worse under this kind of pressure and she’s not exactly the type to pull punches when she’s upset, they’re both miserable at the moment.’
