Charles Spencer and then-Prince Charles had a heated phone call about Prince William and Prince Harry, then 15 and 12, walking in their mother’s funeral procession

NEED TO KNOW

• Ahead of the publication of Charles Spencer’s new book about his late sister, Princess Diana, a preview has been published by the Daily Mail
• In it, Spencer recalls a phone call with the now-King Charles after a disagreement about Prince William and Prince Harry, then 15 and 12, walking behind their mother’s coffin at her funeral procession
• Spencer claims the royal said, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”

In his new book about Princess Diana, her brother Charles Spencer is recalling a heated phone call with the now-King Charles shortly after her 1997 death.

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the Daily Mail published the first preview of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, the upcoming memoir from the 9th Earl Spencer set for release on Sept. 22.

In the book, Spencer, 62, recalls a conversation with then-Prince Charles about whether his sons with Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry, then ages 15 and 12, would walk behind her coffin in the funeral procession. Spencer said he was against the idea after being informed by a royal aide, and then he recalled receiving a phone call from Prince Charles. The exchange became heated.

Spencer writes, per the Daily Mail, “Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting. Then he stopped. I assumed the pause signaled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death.”

“ ‘Rest assured,’ he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!’ “ Spencer wrote of his former brother-in-law.

Spencer writes that he was “so stunned” that he took a few seconds to reply before saying, “I can’t believe you just said that,” and hanging up.

Both Prince William, now 44, and Prince Harry, now 42, confirmed in the BBC’s 2017 documentary Diana, 7 Days that it was a “group decision” for them to join their mother’s funeral procession, with William saying, “It wasn’t an easy decision, and it was a collective family decision to do that.”

Spencer previously shared his being against the idea, telling PEOPLE and 2017’s The Story of Diana that he didn’t believe that “tiny” Harry should have made the grueling journey.

“I was just so worried — what a trauma for a little chap to walk behind his mum’s body,” Charles, 9th Earl Spencer, said. “It’s just awful. And, actually, I tried to stop that happening, to be honest.”

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Swan Song: Diana, My Sister was announced last month. The book marks the first time that the 9th Earl Spencer speaks “openly” and “at length” about his late sister, prompted after he said he was “inundated” with requests for interviews about Diana as the 30th anniversary of her death approaches.

“The aim of this book is to tell the truth about Diana from her brother’s perspective, just as I attempted to do when speaking at her funeral,” Spencer said in a press release. “As with my eulogy, I want to speak on Diana’s behalf and do so in an openly positive way.”

Spencer said in a Sept. 11 social media post that this was his most personal book ever and reflected on how he felt after spending three days reading the memoir aloud for its audiobook edition.

“When I finished the recording, I thought: ‘That is exactly what I wanted and needed to say — and she would, I reckon, have approved of every word,’ ” he wrote on Instagram.

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The Daily Mail reported on Sept. 15 that four copies of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister were stolen from a truck in the Netherlands ahead of its publication.

The outlet reported that a truck was bringing copies of the book to a warehouse in the Netherlands for distribution to bookstores, and the driver parked overnight to sleep. Upon waking up, the driver discovered that there had been a break-in but only a few copies of Spencer’s memoir were missing. Dutch police are reportedly investigating the theft.

A publishing source called the theft “highly suspicious.”

“Nothing like this has ever happened before. This is probably the biggest book of the year and the security surrounding it has been incredibly tight,” the source told the Daily Mail, adding, “Every possible precaution has been taken to prevent it from being leaked ahead of its serialization. Therefore, this unprecedented incident is being taken extremely seriously.”

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