Harry 'completely fine' with Diana memoir, says Spencer

Britain's Prince Harry is "completely fine" with a new memoir chronicling the life of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, his uncle Charles Spencer has said.

Mr Spencer has made a series of claims about Britain's King Charles in 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister' - including Charles said "we’ll forget her soon enough" after she died - which has prompted a war of words between him and Buckingham Palace.

A palace spokesman said last week that the King is "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise".

Asked about telling Harry and the Prince of Wales about the book, the earl told People magazine: "I can say that Harry is completely fine about it.

"He said, I hope there’s nothing embarrassing about him in it. I said, 'There isn’t’.

"I think they were actually worried where I was going up to with the book.

"It pretty much ends in 1997 with Diana’s death, and there’s a tiny postscript by the grave.

"So I think there was this, 'Gosh, what's he written about?' And I think it's natural that people so in the public eye are concerned how they will come across in the book," Mr Spencer said.

"But I could reassure both of them that they're of course in the book, but really as examples of two little boys who had the most exceptional mother, I’m not in any way compromising their privacy at all."

It comes amid reports that Harry is planning a documentary about Diana for the 30th anniversary of her death next year.

Mr Spencer admitted to "concern" about how William and Harry would feel about his portrayal of their father, but added he is "not here" to write a "scandalous book" about the King.

He told the magazine he did "not really" have any fear about writing so candidly about Charles.

"I respect the institution of the Crown, and I know that most people in Britain do, especially the older generation, but when I’m writing this book, I’m not interested in who people are in terms of status," he added.

"I’m looking at them as people. And the central person, the only one that really matters, is Diana."

Mr Spencer said he believes his sister would have liked the book.

"She always loved it when I paid compliments, and this is 350 pages of compliments," he said.

Book written to 'speak on Diana's behalf'

Almost three decades after Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, people remain fascinated by her life and tragic death.

'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister' has been published by Penguin and translated into 12 languages.

But extracts serialised in the British tabloid the Daily Mail over the past few days have triggered sensational headlines.

Mr Spencer has said he wrote the book to "speak on Diana's behalf" and correct "untruths that have become accepted over time".

"Diana would be cheering from the rafters at this book, I have no doubt about that," he told the Mail on Sunday at the weekend.

Her death, aged just 36, sparked an outpouring of grief in Britain for the woman dubbed "the people's princess".

And it triggered accusations that the then monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, failed to respond swiftly with empathy and understanding.

Mr Spencer claimed Charles had "sounded giddily elated, like a lottery winner" at the news of Diana's demise.

And he said Charles "went ballistic" after he insisted Diana would not have wanted her sons, princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk behind her coffin in her funeral procession.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson issued a rare reaction from the 77-year-old king, saying: "His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."

Royal experts have questioned some of the book's claims.

Royal biographer Robert Hardman wrote on X that he witnessed Charles, rather than elated, "distraught and in tears" at Diana's funeral.

Andrew Morton, author of the 1992 book "Diana: Her True Story," in a comment in The Times wrote that Spencer's claims about the phone call with Charles were "incendiary and disputed".

While royal commentator Jennie Bond told the BBC the memoir was a "vindictive account".

Mr Spencer, 62, has worked as a US television journalist and calls himself an historian.

He inherited the Spencer family's stately home Althorp, where he and Diana grew up. She is buried on an island in the grounds.

After her death, he accused the media of having "blood on their hands" and in his raw eulogy at Diana's funeral, he vowed to always look out for her two sons.

But he did not mention her partner Dodi Fayed, who was also killed in the Paris crash, even though in the memoir he praised the son of Harrods owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed, for being "kind to Diana".

Mr Spencer also told the BBC the media's "cancerous influence" on Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, recalled Diana's hounding by the British press.

Additional reporting AFP