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    Princess Diana's Brother Reacts to King Charles's "Astonishingly Provocative" Statement, Claims He's Being "Gaslit by The King"

    "It was essentially trying to say I'd lied..."

    Amy Mackelden's avatar
    By Amy Mackelden
    Published 20 September 2026 In News

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    Earl Charles Spencer wears a suit and has gray hair and King Charles waves while wearing a beige suit
    (Image credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Invictus Games Foundation)
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    The drama surrounding Earl Spencer's new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is far from over. After Buckingham Palace released an unprecedented statement regarding allegations made in the book, Princess Diana's brother has responded with his own comments. Clearly, King Charles and Charles Spencer have very different recollections of their shared history.

    Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Earl Spencer said, "It is not every day you wake up to find you've been gaslit by The King."

    The author 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."

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    Referencing a previous disagreement between the palace and Prince Harry, Spencer noted, "I also thought it was a rather poor imitation of the 'recollections may vary' quote, which was a much more elegant way of putting things, but in these circumstances entirely out of place."

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    Earl Spencer reading a copy of his book Swan Song by a window

    "It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt..."

    (Image credit: Earl Spencer/Instagram)

    Earl Spencer further told the publication, "I am a historian—I appreciate that a lot of the public don't know that—and my primary responsibility as a historian is to tell the truth."

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    As for why he decided to pen the new tome, the earl shared, "My motivation in this book has been to tell the truth about Diana and all she had to put up with in her public life through the eyes of the brother who grew up with her."

    He also noted, "Along the way I've been able to deal with various myths that have grown up which needed to be dealt with once and for all."

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    Charles and Diana Spencer standing next to each other as children

    Charles Spencer and Princess Diana when they were children.

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    Basically, the beef between Earl Spencer and King Charles appears to be far from over.

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    Weekend Editor

    Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.

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