Prince Harry has yet to publicly comment on his uncle Charles Spencer’s explosive new memoir about Princess Diana, even as the book has reignited scrutiny of the Royal Family and King Charles’s relationship with Diana.
The silence has attracted attention because Swan Song: Diana, My Sister contains several deeply personal claims about Diana’s marriage, her final days and the aftermath of her death in 1997.
But the circumstances surrounding Harry’s silence are more complicated than they first appear. Spencer has said he informed both Harry and Prince William about the book at the same time, and he has described it as a personal account of his sister rather than an attempt to expose the royal family.
Prince William and Prince Harry (Image: Getty)
Earl Spencer’s claims about King Charles
Charles Spencer’s memoir, published on September 22, 2026, revisits his relationship with Diana and the events surrounding her death nearly 30 years ago.
Among its most controversial passages is Spencer’s account of a telephone conversation with the then Prince Charles shortly after Diana’s death.
According to Spencer, Charles told him: “We’ll forget her soon enough.”
King Charles and Prince Harry (Image: Getty)
Spencer says the remark came during a disagreement over Diana’s funeral arrangements, particularly whether William and Harry should walk behind their mother’s coffin. He has presented the recollection as his own account of events from 1997.
Spencer has also described Charles’s tone during another conversation as unusually elated following Diana’s death.
Those claims have been disputed by Buckingham Palace. In a rare response, the Palace suggested that grief could have affected Spencer’s recollection, saying that “fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory.” Spencer has subsequently stood by his account.
Because the conversations described by Spencer were private, there are no independent witnesses publicly known to have been present for the alleged remarks.
Harry was reportedly told about the book
One of the more significant details surrounding Harry’s silence is that Spencer has said he did not keep the project hidden from Diana’s sons until publication.
In an interview with PEOPLE, Spencer said he eventually told William and Harry about the memoir at exactly the same time. He also said Harry was reassured that there was nothing embarrassing about him in the book.
Spencer has described the memoir as a tribute to Diana and said he wanted to tell her story from the perspective of her brother.
The book focuses on Diana’s childhood, her marriage to then-Prince Charles, the breakdown of that marriage, her death and the aftermath. It also revisits the relationship between Diana and her two sons.
That account differs from the suggestion that Harry might have been caught completely off guard by the memoir.
William has also remained silent
Prince William has not publicly endorsed or rejected his uncle’s claims.
When reporters recently asked him about Swan Song, William did not comment. Spencer has not publicly disclosed exactly how William reacted when he was told about the book.
That leaves an important distinction between what has been reported and what remains speculation.
Some commentators have interpreted Harry’s silence as significant, particularly given his own criticism of members of the Royal Family in his 2023 memoir Spare. But there has been no public statement from Harry saying that he agrees with Spencer’s version of events or that he opposes his uncle’s account.
A very different book from Spare
Harry’s own memoir, Spare, included highly personal accounts of his relationship with his father, King Charles, his brother William and other members of the Royal Family.
The book also contained criticism of Queen Camilla and accounts involving Catherine, Princess of Wales.
That history has inevitably drawn comparisons with Spencer’s memoir, particularly because both books revisit the years following Diana’s death and the effect of royal family relationships on her sons.
But the two books have different purposes and perspectives.
Spare was Harry’s account of his own life inside the Royal Family. Swan Song is Spencer’s account of his life with his sister and his memories of the period surrounding her death. Spencer has emphasized that he wrote from his position as Diana’s brother.
Spencer says Harry was not the target
Spencer has also sought to distinguish the book from a sensational exposé.
Speaking about the memoir, he said he wanted to honor Diana and provide what he regarded as his truthful account of her life. The publisher describes the book as an intimate portrait of Diana told from her brother’s perspective.
Spencer has specifically said that he reassured Harry that the memoir did not contain anything embarrassing about him.
That makes Harry’s lack of a public response difficult to interpret with certainty.
His silence could simply mean that he does not wish to comment publicly on a deeply personal family matter. Equally, there is no public evidence showing that he has privately supported or opposed every claim in the book.
The memoir has reopened old royal tensions
There is little doubt that Swan Song has reopened painful questions surrounding Diana’s marriage and death.
The book has prompted an unusually direct response from Buckingham Palace, while Spencer has continued to defend his recollections. His claims about the aftermath of Diana’s death have received extensive media coverage, particularly the alleged conversation with Charles and his disagreement over William and Harry’s participation in the funeral procession.
For Harry, the situation is particularly sensitive because his relationship with both his father and brother has already been the subject of years of public discussion.
Yet there is currently no public statement from Harry confirming that he shares Spencer’s interpretation of events.
For now, the most notable fact is simply that both William and Harry have remained publicly restrained while their uncle’s account of Diana’s life and death dominates the headlines.
Whether Harry eventually addresses the memoir himself remains unknown.