The supplied report documents Spencer’s claim that he told Barbara Walters in 1997, while Buckingham Palace disputes the reliability of his recollection.
The supplied report says Earl Spencer claimed he told Barbara Walters in 1997 that the King had said, “we’ll forget her soon enough” after Diana’s death. Spencer’s account appears in his book and was discussed on CBS Mornings, while Buckingham Palace disputed the reliability of his recollection. No independent confirmation of the alleged remark or the claimed disclosure to Walters is provided.
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- World
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- ANALYSIS
- Published
- Sep 28, 2026, 07:15 PM
## Verified facts
The supplied report states that Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer, told Gayle King on CBS Mornings that the King said, “we’ll forget her soon enough” after Diana, Princess of Wales’s death. Spencer said he heard the remark and told people about it at the time, specifically claiming that he told journalist Barbara Walters.
The report also states that the allegation appears in Spencer’s book *Swan Song: Diana, My Sister*. Buckingham Palace responded that “fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory.” The report does not provide independent confirmation from Walters or another witness that Spencer relayed the remark to her in 1997.
Spencer additionally said that the Duke of Sussex asked whether the book contained anything embarrassing about him, and that Spencer replied that it did not. The report says the book includes other allegations concerning the King, including a description of his reaction when he spoke to Spencer after Diana’s death.
## Interpretation
The central issue is not only whether the alleged remark was made, but also whether Spencer’s recollection and his claimed contemporaneous disclosure to Walters can be independently verified. Buckingham Palace’s response directly challenges the reliability of the account without providing, in the supplied evidence, a separate factual account of what was said after Diana’s death.
The reported exchange with Gayle King gives public context for Spencer’s claim, but it does not independently establish that the alleged remark occurred or that Walters received the information in 1997. The book’s publication and the dispute with Buckingham Palace show that the allegation has become part of a broader public disagreement over Spencer’s account of events surrounding Diana’s death.
## Uncertainty
The evidence consists of the supplied report’s account of Spencer’s statements and Buckingham Palace’s response. It does not include a statement from Barbara Walters, her records, an independent witness, or contemporaneous documentation confirming Spencer’s claim. The King’s identity is not otherwise specified in the supplied report beyond its references to the monarch and to Charles, then the Prince of Wales. The allegation should therefore be treated as disputed and unverified on the available evidence.
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