King Charles III sounded “giddily elated — like a lottery winner” in the immediate aftermath of his ex-wife Princess Diana’s death, according to her brother, Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer. Spencer makes the claim in his forthcoming book, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," recalling a phone call with the then-Prince Charles after Diana’s fatal car accident in Paris in 1997.
"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," Spencer writes in an excerpt published by the Daily Mail. He notes that Charles informed him he had told Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, of their mother's death "first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral."
Spencer suggests that Charles's demeanor was "strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster." He further speculates in the book, "Looking back now, 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, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not," referring to Camilla, now Queen Consort.
Spencer also claims Charles felt "pent-up contempt for Diana and … horror that the world was so bowled over by her death." According to Spencer, the King allegedly told him that Diana would be forgotten "soon enough."
However, a spokesperson for King Charles disputed Spencer's characterizations, stating, "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."