King Charles Issues Rare Response to Diana Tell-All

King Charles is pushing back—carefully—against a claim from Princess Diana's brother that's about to land in bookstores, Reuters reports. In a forthcoming memoir, Charles Spencer says the then-Prince Charles told him after Diana's 1997 death, "rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough," during a tense dispute over whether Princes William and Harry should walk behind her coffin at her funeral. Diana's brother told Charles he did not think his sister would have wanted her sons, then 15 and 12, in the procession, and he says Charles responded angrily, CNN reports.

Asked about the allegation, Buckingham Palace broke its usual silence on royal tell-alls. A spokesperson said that while the palace doesn't comment on books "as a matter of principle," the king "is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss." Spencer has framed the memoir as his attempt to tell "the truth about Diana from her brother's perspective" and to speak for her "in an openly positive way." As for why he thinks the now-king made the alleged comment about his ex-wife, Spencer writes in the book that he believes Charles felt "horror" over how much her death had impacted the world, the Guardian reports.