London: Charles Spencer’s book on his sister, the late Princess Diana, went on sale on Tuesday.
Excerpts of ‘Swan song: Diana, my sister. Beautiful. Beloved. Hunted’ have already been published, with the memoir drawing attention after it accused the then-Prince of Wales of sounding like a ‘lottery winner’ after Diana's death.
In the book, Spencer alleged that Diana's former husband sounded ‘giddily elated’ in the hours after her death and said an angry Charles had told Spencer that the world would forget Diana soon enough.
In a rare move, the palace responded by saying the king was "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, judgment and memory", as it sought to prevent the king from being dragged back into one of the royal family's most damaging periods.
Diana died aged 36 in a 1997 Paris car crash as photographers pursued her on motorbikes, sparking an outpouring of grief and a reckoning over whether the media bore some responsibility after it splashed details of her life across front pages for years. Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
Spencer describes his book as an intimate, loving and honest portrait of his sister, who he said became a global icon overnight.