Princess Diana Claimed King Charles Was ‘In Love with His Valet,’ Earl Spencer Reveals in Explosive Memoir
A newly published excerpt from Charles Spencer’s forthcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has sent shockwaves through royal circles by unearthing a startling private conversation between the late Princess Diana and her brother prior to her divorce from the Prince of Wales. Published by the Daily Mail, the account details a pivotal lunch at London’s San Lorenzo restaurant, where Diana—using the affectionate sibling monikers “Duch” and “Carlos”—confided to the 9th Earl Spencer that her royal marriage had reached an irreparable breaking point.
According to Spencer, when he cautioned his sister that the public might unfairly blame her for shattering their collective royal fairy tale, Diana looked up and quietly answered: “But, Carlos, my husband is in love with his valet.” Spencer recalled being left utterly stunned, writing that his sister never named the specific household staff member. He noted that the identity of the aide was ultimately irrelevant compared to the painful reality confronting her: the definitive end of her marriage and the complete collapse of her personal dreams.
Historical rumors alleging an inappropriate relationship between Charles and a member of his royal household previously surfaced in 2003, prompting an unprecedented public denial from Charles’s then-private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, who denounced the speculation as completely untrue and without substance. In the book, Spencer clarifies that he is not evaluating the factual validity of Diana’s suspicion, but merely documenting her psychological reality at the time. The excerpt further recounts Diana’s distress over Charles’s harsh critiques of her weight, wardrobe, and maturity, alongside the devastating revelation that Charles allegedly confessed on the eve of their 1981 wedding that he did not love her.
Buckingham Palace declined to offer additional statements, standing by its prior formal response indicating that the passage of time and fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and color memory. Penned ahead of next year’s 30th anniversary of Diana’s tragic death, Spencer’s memoir is shaping up to be an unprecedentedly raw insider testament, reigniting intense international discourse surrounding the fraught emotional dynamics that defined the Wales marriage.