King Charles was deeply shocked in deep in grief after Princess Diana’s death, Bower says (Image: Getty)
A royal biographer has said King Charles was “deeply shocked” and “deep in grief” when he found out about Princess Diana‘s death. Tom Bower said he had been in contact with three people who were at Balmoral with the Royal Family when it emerged that Diana had died in August 1997.
He was speaking to The Royals Uncensored podcast after Earl Charles Spencer’s controversial book about his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, made headlines around the world for a string of allegations against the monarch.
Earl Spencer did not want William and Harry to walk behind his sister’s coffin (Image: Getty)
The aristocrat claims in his book that the King, then the Prince of Wales, said about Diana, “we’ll forget her soon enough” during an argument over whether Prince William and Prince Harry should walk behind their mother’s coffin in her funeral procession.
The memoir also alleges the King “sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner” when he spoke to the earl after Diana’s death.
Asked if he believed the King would have reacted in that way, Bower said: “I don’t believe it for a moment. I spoke to three people who were at Balmoral that weekend… And there were all unanimous, even now in recollection, that Charles was deep in grief and deeply shocked.”
The royal biographer added that the King is a “very flawed individual” who he has been critical of, but one of his endearing qualities is that he is very supportive of people who have experienced bereavement.
Bower told The Royals Uncensored: “The idea that at that moment that he should have been other than mortified by her death is just completely out of character.”
New Express YouTube show Royals Unscripted launches on Thursday
Royals Unscripted (Image: DX)
The Express is thrilled to announce the launch of Royals Unscripted, a brand-new weekly video podcast delivering exclusive news, sharp commentary and in-depth analysis on the Royal Family. The programme will officially launch on Thursday, October 1, 2026, on YouTube and all major podcasting platforms.
Hosted by Express Royal Editor Emily Ferguson and commentator Carole Malone, the 30-minute episodes will go live every Thursday at 7am. Royals Unscripted promises to take audiences behind the Palace gates with exclusive stories sourced directly from Emily’s extensive contacts. The hosts will dissect the three biggest royal news stories of the week, driven by Carole’s signature candid commentary that fans have come to love.
To make sure you don’t miss out on the first episode, make sure to subscribe to the channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@RoyalsUnscripted
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister hit the shelves last week (Image: Getty)
Asked why Earl Spencer would seek to criticise the King, Bower said the two Charleses just never got on, and there was some envy on the Earl’s part.
The Earl’s allegations led Buckingham Palace to issue a strongly worded response which said the King was “mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss”.
Bower said that Earl Spencer was a good historian, but he had sabotaged his own credibility in his book.
Earl Spencer has long clashed with the royals over their treatment of his older sister.
In a scathing eulogy at his sister’s funeral, Earl Spencer vowed her “blood family” would carry on her “imaginative and loving” legacy in raising her two sons. The speech was widely considered a swipe at the Royal Family.
At the time, many in Britain and beyond felt Queen Elizabeth II and the royals were too slow to acknowledge the global outpouring of grief over Diana’s death and that the monarchy was deeply out of touch with the public mood.
The royals have spent decades putting that period of crisis behind them. The warmer, more personable approach of William and Harry — and, in recent years, the king — is a legacy of that time.
Some critics have questioned why Spencer felt the need to revisit the pain and trauma 30 years on.
The aristocrat said he wanted to write down his own thoughts and memories about Diana, “once and for all, rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others, many of which are based on untruths”.
