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Charles 'sounded giddily elated' after Diana died, Earl Spencer claims

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Cite

Jackson, P., & Coughlan, S. (2026, September 17). Charles 'sounded giddily elated' after Diana died, Earl Spencer claims. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqkg083ve78ro?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

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

BBC News · collected 2026-09-17 · by Patrick Jackson, Sean Coughlan

Quick Summary

Earl Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, claims in his upcoming memoir that King Charles sounded “giddily elated” when he called after Diana's death in 1997. Buckingham Palace dismissed these allegations, stating that grief can distort memory and judgment over time. The book also revisits the royal couple’s troubled marriage and suggests Diana may have had ADHD with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, but provides no new evidence beyond Spencer’s personal recollections.
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 18% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 5 of 21 claims Outlet record 66/100
NBC News
Hedges 2 of 31 claims Outlet record 60/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 10 of 35 claims Outlet record 64/100
CBS News
Hedges 7 of 19 claims Outlet record 66/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 5 of 20 claims Outlet record 64/100
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 8 of 33 claims Outlet record 61/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 10 of 35 claims Outlet record 64/100
The Guardian
Hedges 9 of 24 claims Outlet record 66/100
South China Morning Post
Hedges 2 of 3 claims Outlet record 63/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
17
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
18%
3 of 17 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
68/100
BBC News'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

BBC News · 4885 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Patrick Jackson
15 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Patrick Jackson
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 15 articles by Patrick Jackson →
Sean Coughlan
14 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The Met added it intended to make further referrals to "relevant overseas law enforcement agencies", a process which it expected to be completed "in the coming days".
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2026-10-26 · mixed framing · Will the public change its mind about Meghan?
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2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Harry says he wants to 'work it out' with his family
🔮 I think it would be a complete and utter tragedy if books went forever," she said.
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2026-10-09 · assertive framing · King pays Andrew's £1.5m repair bill on Royal Lodge
🔮 It added: "As these legal proceedings are currently ongoing, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further."
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🔮 It might be almost 30 years ago, but Buckingham Palace's unusually angry rebuttal to the book's allegations of a callous response to his ex-wife's death from the then Prince Charles shows how much this still matters.
🔮 What remains to be seen is how the public might respond to the allegations, whether they might support this book as a new and different Spencer perspective, or whether they might feel it to be inappropriate to be sharing such private disputes.
Also by Sean Coughlan
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 14 articles by Sean Coughlan →

Topics

Buckingham Palace Cape Town Paris South Africa the Daily Mail

Subjects

Charles PERSON · 7× Diana PERSON · 6× Earl Spencer PERSON · 4× Buckingham Palace ORG · 2× Earl Spencer's PERSON · 2× Paris GPE · 1× Prince Charles PERSON · 1× Prince Harry PERSON · 1× Spencer PERSON · 1× the Daily Mail ORG · 1×

Narrative

He now believes his sister had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, external (ADHD), and as part of her condition suffered from Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria - describing the latter as an "intense emotional pain in the face of others' rejection or criticism".
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18
🔮 What remains to be seen is how the public might respond to the allegations, whether they might support this book as a new and different Spencer perspective, or whether they might feel it to be inappropriate to be sharing such private disputes.

Claims (17 extracted, 3 hedged)

- Published Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, has claimed King Charles "sounded giddily elated" when he called him after her death in 1997. asserted
he → publish → 1997
In a controversial book about Diana, he alleged the then-Prince Charles sounded like a "lottery winner" after the news. asserted
Charles → allege → news
Buckingham Palace strongly pushed back on Wednesday against the credibility of the book, after an initial extract claimed Charles had said of Diana: "We'll forget her soon enough." asserted
We → push → her
A spokesperson said: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, 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." asserted
others → say → loss
The latest claims are once again highly personal in their attacks on King Charles and the royals, interpreting their motives in a very harsh light. uncertain
claims → interpret → light
What remains to be seen is how the public might respond to the allegations, whether they might support this book as a new and different Spencer perspective, or whether they might feel it to be inappropriate to be sharing such private disputes. uncertain
it → remain → disputes
Representatives of Prince Harry have said they do not want to comment on the book and Buckingham Palace has pointed back to its response from Wednesday, when it rejected the account of Prince Charles in the wake of Diana's death in Paris. asserted
it → say → Paris
In excerpts from Earl Spencer's memoir published in the Daily Mail, external, he recounts being alerted to the car crash on 31 August, 1997, by a phone call from his sister Jane in the middle of the night at his home in Cape Town, South Africa. asserted
he → publish → Town
During the calls that followed, which confirmed the death, the then-Prince Charles telephoned him, he writes. asserted
he → follow → him
The book alleges: "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." asserted
I → allege → time
According to Earl Spencer, Charles informed him he had told Princes William and Harry of their mother's death first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral. uncertain
he → accord → Balmoral
The royal couple had divorced in August 1996. Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is due to be published next week. asserted
Song → divorce → August
BBC News has not seen the book in full. asserted
News → see → full
In the memoir, Earl Spencer writes of his sister's troubled marriage - claiming a friend of Diana's had told him that on the eve of their wedding in July 1981, Prince Charles had told her he was "very happy to marry her, but… not actually in love with her". asserted
he → write → her
Things became "very difficult indeed" in the marriage early on, Earl Spencer writes, adding that he is "sure that both spouses despaired of the other at times". asserted
spouses → become → times
He now believes his sister had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, external (ADHD), and as part of her condition suffered from Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria - describing the latter as an "intense emotional pain in the face of others' rejection or criticism". asserted
sister → believe → rejection
In her later years, he writes, Princess Diana considered taking her own life on more than one occasion but love for her sons "stopped her from going further". asserted
love → write → her
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