Diana's Brother: Charles Sounded 'Elated' After Her Death

A new memoir by Princess Diana's younger brother is out Tuesday, and the drip of unflattering details it contains about King Charles III continues in advance of that. In excerpts from Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Charles Spencer says Charles sounded "giddily elated" on the phone after Diana's fatal 1997 car crash. "Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated—like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time."

Spencer suggests Charles might have had Camilla on his mind. "Looking back now, I suspect the prince's first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not." NBC News reports the latest excerpts also touch on her mental state. "It is a sad fact that, in her later years, Diana drove herself more than once to Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in England, while contemplating ending it all. Her love for her sons stopped her from going further," Spencer writes. An interview with Spencer is set to air on CBS Sunday Morning. The palace issued a pointed statement in response to the book on Wednesday, implying Spencer's grief has distorted his memory; it is otherwise declining comment.