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Charles ‘giddily elated’ after Diana’s death, her brother claims: ‘Like a lottery winner’; Buckingham Palace responds

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TOI World Desk. (2026, September 17). Charles ‘giddily elated’ after Diana’s death, her brother claims: ‘Like a lottery winner’; Buckingham Palace responds. Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/charles-giddily-elated-after-dianas-death-her-brother-claims-like-a-lottery-winner-buckingham-palace-responds/articleshow/134320638.cms

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Times of India · collected 2026-09-17 · by TOI World Desk

Quick Summary

Charles Spencer, Princess Diana's brother, claims in a new memoir that Prince Charles sounded "giddily elated like a lottery winner" when he called him shortly after Diana’s death in 1997. Spencer suggests that Charles was focused on how Diana's death would impact his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. Buckingham Palace responded to the claims, noting that grief can distort memory and judgment over time but declined further comment.
Written by AI on 2026-09-18, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In September 2026, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan moved their children, Prince Archie (aged seven) and Princess Lilibet (five), to a new school in Britain after just two days due to security concerns. The couple's spokesperson cited heavy traffic between their home and the original school as the reason for the move. This decision came shortly after Harry and Meghan returned to Britain from California, where they had lived for six years. Additionally, the family's publicly-funded security is currently being reviewed by a government committee known as Ravec (the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures).

Written for “Charles Spencer's Memoir Controversy” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 141 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Charles Spencer's Memoir Controversy
Entertainment · 142 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 26% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
NBC News
Hedges 2 of 31 claims Outlet record 60/100
CBS News
Hedges 7 of 19 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 8 of 33 claims Outlet record 61/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 2 of 11 claims Outlet record 66/100
South China Morning Post
Hedges 2 of 3 claims Outlet record 63/100
BBC News
Hedges 3 of 17 claims Outlet record 68/100
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 5 of 21 claims Outlet record 66/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 5 of 20 claims Outlet record 65/100
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 6 of 23 claims Outlet record 68/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
26%
5 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
59/100
Times of India's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
142
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Times of India · 3890 article(s) · 2 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 2 correction(s)

Who wrote this

TOI World Desk
1312 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by TOI World Desk
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 1312 articles by TOI World Desk →

Topics

BBC Buckingham Palace Palace Paris

Subjects

Diana PERSON · 13× Charles PERSON · 12× Spencer PERSON · 9× Palace ORG · 3× Camilla Parker Bowles PERSON · 2× Paris GPE · 2× BBC ORG · 1× Charles Spencer PERSON · 1× Prince Harry PERSON · 1× Prince William PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The Palace said Wednesday that it does not normally comment on books but noted that grief can affect how people remember events decades later. “His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss,” a Palace spokesperson said.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18
🔮 Charles also told him that he had informed his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, of their mother's death that morning at Balmoral.

Claims (19 extracted, 5 hedged)

Charles appeared “giddily elated like a lottery winner” when he spoke to Princess Diana's brother shortly after her death in 1997, according to a new memoir by Diana's younger brother, Charles Spencer. uncertain
he → appear → brother
In an extract from his forthcoming book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer recalls receiving a call from the then Prince Charles after Diana died in a car crash in Paris. asserted
Diana → recall → Paris
While other people calling Spencer were “stunned” and struggling to express their condolences, Spencer writes that Charles sounded “giddily elated — like a lottery winner”. asserted
Charles → call → winner
Charles also told him that he had informed his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, of their mother's death that morning at Balmoral. asserted
he → tell → Balmoral
Spencer says the conversation sounded “strangely matter-of-fact” given the circumstances. asserted
conversation → say → circumstances
Looking back, Spencer writes that he suspected Charles's immediate reaction may have been focused on what Diana's death meant for his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. uncertain
death → look → Bowles
“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,” Spencer writes, according to the published extract. uncertain
Spencer → suspect → extract
The claim comes nearly three decades after Diana's death and forms part of Spencer's highly personal account of his sister's life and her troubled marriage to Charles. uncertain
claim → come → Charles
What happened between Charles and Diana? asserted
What → happen → Charles
Charles and Diana married in 1981 but separated in 1992 after years of marital difficulties. asserted
Charles → marry → difficulties
Their divorce was finalised in 1996, just a year before Diana's death. asserted
divorce → finalise → death
Diana had publicly discussed Charles's relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, famously saying in a 1995 BBC interview that there were “three of us in this marriage”. asserted
Diana → discuss → marriage
Charles later married Camilla in 2005. asserted
Charles → marry → 2005
Diana died on August 31, 1997, after the car carrying her and Dodi Fayed crashed in a Paris tunnel while being pursued by paparazzi. asserted
car → die → paparazzi
Palace responds to Diana's brother The claims have triggered an unusual response from Buckingham Palace. uncertain
claims → respond → Palace
The Palace said Wednesday that it does not normally comment on books but noted that grief can affect how people remember events decades later. “His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss,” a Palace spokesperson said. asserted
spokesperson → say → loss
The statement came after earlier extracts from Spencer's memoir claimed that Charles told him, during an argument surrounding Diana's funeral, “Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough.” asserted
we → come → her
Spencer has said he wrote the memoir to correct what he considers untruths about his sister. asserted
he → say → sister
The book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is due to be published next week, with the latest extracts likely to renew scrutiny of the relationship between Diana, Charles and the wider royal family. asserted
extracts → publish → Diana
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