David Dimbleby has claimed that Princess Diana is ‘still deeply resented’ in Buckingham Palace – as the fallout over Earl Spencer‘s revelations escalates.
In his explosive new memoir – exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail – Diana’s brother claims Prince Charles told him ‘we’ll forget her [Diana] soon enough’ during an argument over William and Harry’s involvement in her funeral.
Buckingham Palace hit back with an ‘unprecedented’ strongly worded response, suggesting that grief had clouded the Earl’s ‘reason, judgment and memory’.
The Earl then doubled down on the account he gave in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, saying, ‘I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said,’ as the royal row continued to spiral.
Now Mr Dimbleby – who spent decades covering royal events – has suggested the Palace does not have fond memories of the late Princess – almost 30 years on from her death.
He told BBC Radio 4 Today: ‘Diana was the prime example of someone who didn’t act like the rest of the Royal Family – she was fresh, new and exciting to the public and they really adored her.
‘And that was deeply resented in the palace. And still is. And this kind of tit for tat over who said what, and only two people know what was actually said just reignites all that.’
The veteran broadcaster recalled many accusing the Palace of failing to understand Diana’s impact in the wake of her death – and the theme of the Royal Family being ‘behind the curve’ came up in his 2025 documentary series, What’s The Monarchy For?
David Dimbleby has claimed that Princess Diana is ‘still deeply resented’ within Buckingham Palace
![In his explosive new memoir – exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail – Earl Spencer claims Prince Charles told him 'we'll forget her [Diana] soon enough'](https://i.dailymail.com/1s/2026/09/19/11/111346473-16144103-image-m-17_1789812190276.jpg)
In his explosive new memoir – exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail – Earl Spencer claims Prince Charles told him ‘we’ll forget her [Diana] soon enough’
‘And I think that’s the real problem,’ he added. ‘The monarchy is still not facing up to the biggest issues we dealt with [in the documentary].
‘About its wealth, its failure to pay tax, about its privileges, about the way it is going…. All those things get talked about but nothing ever gets done.’
Mr Dimbleby went on to describe the Royal Family as ‘a bit of a soap opera’, but warned against the monarchy becoming ‘trapped in this cycle of gossip’.
He added: ‘People are fascinated and I think whenever any tittle tattle reaches the public domain, people sort of think about it in terms of their own families.
‘They all have problems and then suddenly… this family that is set up on a pedestal of being leaders of the country – they have problems too.’
The Earl on Friday insisted he is ‘telling the truth’ about his account of the phone call with Prince Charles in the days following the death of Diana.
Speaking from his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire, Earl Spencer also questioned whether the official response showed whether the King was actually embarrassed.
And when pressed on whether he had evidence to back up the allegation, he said he told family and friends at the time what had been said ‘because it was so monstrous’.
‘I’ve only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life,’ the Earl told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
‘I was hyper alert to what he was saying and those are precisely the words that he said and I promise that to you now.’
Alluding to the Palace’s statement, he added: ‘Genuinely, that is what he said. I don’t hear him saying he didn’t say that.’
The Earl claims Charles ‘went ballistic’ and ‘ranted for a while’ after he tried to tell the future King that Diana would not have wanted William and Harry to walk in her procession.
‘And then he stopped and I thought, oh now, now he’s gonna pull himself together and say something more appropriate,’ he said.
‘And then, he said, “We’ll forget her soon enough.”‘
Earl Spencer added that the remark ‘stunned’ him, and that he hung up.
The book’s first astonishing extract made headlines around the world and is splitting society, with rival camps backing either side.
A second extract was published on DailyMail.com on Friday afternoon, in which the Earl alleges the Royals allowed a tormented Prince Harry to ‘spin out of control’ after his mother’s death.
Speaking of the day of the funeral, he writes: ‘I could not get over how tiny, and slight, and bereft, Harry looked.
‘Too small to be doing this, I thought, and wondered how on earth this heartbroken child could bear the ordeal of that moment, or how he could possibly be expected to deal with the agony that the day ahead would insist upon.’
The Earl also gives a heartbreaking account of how a friend drove him to Chapel Royal – a small place of worship across the road from St James’s Palace where Diana’s coffin was placed in the days before her funeral.
Charles and Diana are seen visiting Venice during their trip to Italy in May 1985
His explosive memoir – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – is one of the most anticipated books of the year and is due to be released next week
Prince Harry stands between Earl Spencer and Prince Charles outside Westminster Abbey during the funeral procession for Princess Diana on September 6, 1997
The passage reads: ‘I had come to sit with Diana, alone.
‘Dappled sunlight from the high stained-glass windows played across the coffin that both formed the focus of the room and presented me with the stark evidence of Diana’s death.
‘I sat down lightly beside it and began to talk to my sister for some time, expressing love and grief, and making promises on her behalf.
‘After a short while, I remembered that I had my eulogy in my pocket, and it occurred to me that I should read it to her.’
