In a special edition of Our News Outlet’s Palace Confidential, Richard Kay identified one story in Earl Spencer’s new memoir about Diana that he says he cannot explain.
Now Senior Editor-at-Large, Kay knew the late Princess both personally and through his work. They became friends during his time as the newspaper’s royal correspondent, with Diana often turning to him for advice on handling the press.
Excerpts from Earl Spencer’s controversial memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, have appeared exclusively in Our News Outlet over the past week, ahead of the book’s publication tomorrow.
The revelations drew an unusual response from Buckingham Palace after Spencer alleged that the King, then the Prince of Wales, told him, ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!’ during a dispute over arrangements for Diana’s funeral.
A Palace spokesman said it does not comment on books, but added that His Majesty is ‘mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory’.
During an interview with Palace Confidential host Luke Blackall, Kay said he spoke with Spencer several times in the week following Diana’s death. Notes Kay made at the time record comments from the Earl that closely echo some of the memoir’s claims.
One story in the memoir, set during the breakdown of Diana’s marriage, left Kay ‘mystified’ and wondering why her brother had included it
Extracts from Earl Spencer’s controversial memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, have appeared exclusively in Our News Outlet over the past week, ahead of the book’s publication tomorrow
Yet one anecdote, said to have taken place as Diana’s marriage was disintegrating, left Kay ‘mystified’ and questioning Spencer’s motivation for recounting it.
‘[Spencer] has been asked to join his sister at San Lorenzo, which famously was Diana’s favourite restaurant,’ he said.
‘They are sitting opposite one another when she suddenly tells him: “Carlos, I’m going to get a divorce.”
‘There is no date attached to the exchange. We do not know when it happened… But he believes he should offer his sister some advice and says: “Well, you’ve got to think very carefully about this. The public might turn against you.”
‘She then looks up from the table, fixes him with those huge blue eyes and replies: “Carlos, he’s in love with his valet.”‘
Carlos was the childhood nickname Diana used for her brother.
A valet is a personal manservant whose duties include preparing a royal’s clothes, helping them dress and drawing their bath.
Spencer writes that Diana never identified the staff member involved, while he did not ask why she believed what he described as ‘such an improbable thing’.
Kay noted that the comment is presented without context or explanation, meaning readers would ‘instantly speculate’ about the identity of the man.
‘I have to say, I’m mystified as to why he felt the need to include that anecdote,’ he told Palace Confidential.
‘People will ask whether it was true. But I think the bigger question they will have—and I am afraid I do not have an answer—is why he chose to put it in the book.
‘My only conclusion is that Charles Spencer, to borrow that familiar phrase about revenge being a dish best served cold, included it for precisely that reason.’
Spencer has since defended including the exchange, telling the BBC it came ‘in the context of a conversation where Diana is telling me that her marriage is over’.
Watch Kay’s full analysis of Earl Spencer’s memoir on Palace Confidential, available now on YouTube.
