Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, claimed that King Charles III’s “odd wish” for her funeral was to walk directly behind her casket, despite their split three years earlier.
“Prince Charles was insisting that he wanted to do so,” Spencer, 62, wrote in his forthcoming book, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister,” according to excerpts published by the Daily Mail on Thursday.
“It is hard to see why, given his feelings for Diana,” Spencer added.
As Diana’s brother also pointed out, “an ex is never expected to act as chief mourner at their former spouse’s funeral,” but Charles, now 77, “was adamant” about his role.
Spencer said that at the time, Queen Elizabeth II’s deputy privacy secretary, Sir Robin Janvrin, told the funeral committee that Spencer “must be persuaded to walk” with Charles behind the casket.
That decision, Spencer said, “was out of fear” that if Charles walked alone, the public “might shout abuse at him.”
So, the committee decided amongst themselves that if Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, then 12, walked with their father and uncle, “that would surely guarantee against insults flying,” Spencer claimed.
The 9th Earl of Spencer further claimed that the day before the Sept. 1997 funeral, Colonel Malcom Ross, head of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office at the time, called him and said William and Harry agreed to walk behind their mom’s casket, as long as their grandfather, Prince Philip, joined them.
“I replied that I was fine with this,” Spencer wrote, “while making a handwritten note of my proviso: ‘as long as they are not being dragooned’ into doing so. I was assured by Colonel Ross that this was not the case.”
Spencer said he was still against the idea of Harry and William walking behind the casket, which led to Charles allegedly calling him and saying, “I gather you’ve got a problem with the funeral arrangements.”
During the heated exchange, the then-Prince of Wales railed against his former brother-in-law in a “stream of anger,” Spencer wrote in his book.
Ultimately, Spencer, Charles, Philip, William and Harry all walked behind Diana’s casket from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey during her funeral procession.
Spencer delivered a 12-minute eulogy where he called his sister “the most hunted person of the modern age.”
In his new book, Spencer details the rollercoaster relationship between Charles and Diana, who got married in 1981, separated in 1992, and divorced in 1996.
The exes’ marriage was plagued by extramarital affairs on both ends, with Charles’ being with his now-wife, Queen Camilla.
After Diana’s death, Charles allegedly vowed that his ex would be forgotten “soon enough” after her passing, according to Spencer’s book.
Charles, however, disputed Spencer’s claims on Wednesday in a statement to Page Six.
“His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told us.
Page Six also heard Harry, 42, knew about his uncle’s bombshell book claims, with a source telling us the allegations were not “a shock” to the Duke of Sussex.
“Swan Song: Diana, My Sister” hits bookshelves Sept. 22.
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