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Princess Diana's brother claims Charles sounded "elated" after she died

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Cite

Williams, H. (2026, September 18). Princess Diana's brother claims Charles sounded "elated" after she died. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/king-charles-elated-after-princess-diana-death-earl-spencer-book-claims/

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

CBS News · collected 2026-09-18 · by Holly Williams

Quick Summary

In an interview with CBS News promoting his book "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," Charles Spencer claims that Prince Charles sounded "elated" immediately after Princess Diana's death in 1997. Buckingham Palace previously responded to initial allegations from the book by suggesting that grief could distort memory and judgment but has not addressed these latest claims yet. The article highlights the controversial nature of Spencer’s assertions and their potential impact on public perception of King Charles III and the royal family.
Written by AI on 2026-09-19, 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 2026-11-03, 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 37% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
NBC News
Hedges 2 of 31 claims Outlet record 60/100
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 6 of 23 claims Outlet record 68/100
BBC News
Hedges 3 of 17 claims Outlet record 68/100
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 8 of 33 claims Outlet record 61/100
South China Morning Post
Hedges 2 of 3 claims Outlet record 63/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 2 of 11 claims Outlet record 66/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 5 of 20 claims Outlet record 64/100
CBS News
Hedges 1 of 2 claims Outlet record 66/100
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
37%
7 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
66/100
CBS 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 2026-09-19 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

CBS News · 4442 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Holly Williams
96 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Holly Williams
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 96 articles by Holly Williams →

Topics

Buckingham Palace CBS News London Paris The Sunday Times

Subjects

Spencer PERSON · 7× Diana PERSON · 6× Charles PERSON · 5× CBS News ORG · 4× Camilla PERSON · 2× Charles Spencer PERSON · 2× Charles III PERSON · 1× London GPE · 1× Paris GPE · 1× Princess Diana PERSON · 1×

Narrative

In an interview airing this weekend on "CBS Sunday Morning," Spencer explains his explosive allegation that a year after the royal couple's divorce, and with the nation in mourning just after Diana's death at the age of just 36, Charles seemed upbeat.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-19
🔮 It is the latest bombshell allegation to emerge from "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," the book by Charles Spencer, Diana's younger brother, set to hit shelves next week.

Claims (19 extracted, 7 hedged)

The brother of the late Princess Diana claims in his upcoming book that King Charles III, then Prince Charles, "sounded giddily elated — like a lottery winner," right after his ex-wife died in a Paris car crash in 1997. uncertain
wife → claim → 1997
It is the latest bombshell allegation to emerge from "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," the book by Charles Spencer, Diana's younger brother, set to hit shelves next week. asserted
It → emerge → shelves
In an interview airing this weekend on "CBS Sunday Morning," Spencer explains his explosive allegation that a year after the royal couple's divorce, and with the nation in mourning just after Diana's death at the age of just 36, Charles seemed upbeat. asserted
Charles → air → 36
"Obviously I'm not justifying or criticizing," he told CBS News. asserted
he → justify → News
"I'm just reporting that's the fact." asserted
that → report → ?
Spencer said he believed the then-Prince of Wales' attitude could have been due to him finally feeling free to pursue Camilla, who he later married, and who is now known as Queen Camilla. uncertain
who → say → Camilla
"I said in the book that that might have been it, yeah," he told CBS News. uncertain
he → say → News
Buckingham Palace pushed back earlier this week after the first allegation from Spencer's book emerged: a claim that Charles had told him days before Diana's funeral that " ."In a statement unusual in its force for the staid institution, the palace said that while the monarch wouldn't comment directly on a book, he "is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory, even many years after such a loss." uncertain
pain → push → loss
CBS News royal contributor Royya Nikkhah said Thursday that the royal family was in for "a very tricky few days," predicting that Spencer's claims about what the king said after Diana died would be "just the beginning of a serialization that will go on … and we know there are going to be some pretty sensational claims." "They will have to decide whether or not they're going about each and every claim, or just to make that first response we've heard from the palace their definitive response," said Nikkhah, who is the royal editor for The Sunday Times newspaper. uncertain
who → say → newspaper
"But it's going to put them into fight mode, and it's going to be very difficult for the king. asserted
it → go → king
" Spencer also claims Charles told Diana he didn't love her before their fairy-tale wedding in 1981, and that Diana contemplated suicide more than once. uncertain
Diana → claim → suicide
There has been no further response from Buckingham Palace to the latest claims from Spencer's book, excerpts of which are being published by the Daily Mail tabloid in Britain. uncertain
excerpts → publish → Britain
The allegations from Charles Spencer are damaging for King Charles and the royal family, but speaking to people outside Buckingham Palace on Friday morning, CBS News found many who were sympathetic to the monarch. asserted
who → damage → monarch
"I love the king, and I love the royal family," said one man. asserted
man → love → family
A young man, walking with his mother, was less adamant, saying he wasn't "big on the king anyway," but adding that the entire episode, to him, seemed "a shame." "I'm probably the other way," said his mother. asserted
mother → walk → him
"I probably think it's totally unnecessary and it is just a story at the end of the day. asserted
it → think → day
And people are going to believe what they want to believe. asserted
they → go → what
But I don't know why it has to keep getting dragged up to be honest." asserted
it → know → ?
With five days to go until Spencer's book is available, and more excerpts likely to be published in the interim, it is virtually guaranteed to be dragged up again, and soon. asserted
it → go → interim
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