Nearly three decades after Princess Diana’s death, new revelations about her final years are once again dominating royal headlines.
The renewed attention comes from Charles Spencer’s newly released memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. Diana’s younger brother describes private conversations, family tensions and his recollections of the period surrounding her death in August 1997.
Among the most striking claims is Spencer’s account of Diana’s doubts before her 1981 wedding to then-Prince Charles. He writes that Diana questioned whether Charles truly loved her and even considered calling off the marriage. The couple eventually married at St Paul’s Cathedral and later had two sons, William and Harry.
Spencer also writes about Diana’s emotional struggles during the later years of her life. According to his memoir, she experienced periods of profound distress and, on more than one occasion, drove toward Beachy Head while contemplating suicide. He says her love for William and Harry helped prevent her from acting on those thoughts.
Perhaps the most controversial revelations concern the aftermath of Diana’s fatal Paris crash. Spencer claims that then-Prince Charles sounded unusually elated during a telephone conversation after Diana’s death and later told him, “we’ll forget her soon enough.” Spencer has publicly stood by his recollection.
Buckingham Palace has not endorsed those accounts. In an unusual response, the Palace said that grief can affect judgment and memory, a statement widely understood as challenging the reliability of Spencer’s recollections without directly addressing each allegation.
The memoir has therefore reopened old questions about Diana’s marriage, her emotional struggles and the royal family’s response to her death.
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