Earl Charles Spencer reportedly shares a private conversation with his sister, Princess Diana, in his upcoming book, Swan Song: Diana.
According to a preview shared with the Daily Mail, Spencer writes that Diana told him over lunch that she wanted to end her marriage to Prince Charles, now King Charles.
Spencer says he promised to support her but worried about how the public would react. He feared people who saw their relationship as a royal fairy tale might unfairly blame Diana for its end.
He recalls Diana telling him: “But, Carlos, my husband is in love with his valet.”
A valet is a personal attendant. According to Spencer’s account, Diana did not name the employee, and he did not ask who she meant or why she believed it. The account does not establish that the allegation was true.
Spencer writes that his main concern was his sister and the end of her marriage.
Diana later spoke publicly about her marriage in her 1995 BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir. Referring to Charles’ relationship with Camilla, she said: “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
During the same interview, Diana also admitted her own affair with James Hewitt, a former Army officer who had been her riding instructor.
Following the book preview, Buckingham Palace reportedly issued a statement saying it generally does not comment on books. The statement also suggested that grievance over losing a sibling could affect a person’s judgment and memories, even many years later.
