Princess Diana’s touching wish for Prince William and Prince Harry

There has been a renewed focus on the relationship between King Charles and Princess Diana following the release of Charles Spencer’s book.

The Earl, 62, made a series of explosive claims – including the allegations that the then-Prince was “giddy” following the death of his ex-wife in a car crash in 1997.

But now, as the dust settles on Swan Song, questions have been raised about the accuracy of the book. 

Buckingham Palace pushed back in an unprecedented statement stating that “fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise”, and Charles was recently forced to issue an apology to Piers Morgan for a factual error within its pages.

And, according to royal expert Ingrid Seward, who maintained a close professional and personal relationship with the Princess, there was no doubt that Charles loved Diana. 

Diana’s wish for William and Harry

Ingrid – who was speaking on the live recording of HELLO!’s A Right Royal Podcast – also said it was important to Diana that their two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, knew “that their father loved me”. 

She said: “As I said I was very lucky to see Diana shortly before she died, not that obviously anyone knew that, but she was going out with Dodi. And I’d been to the Ritz with her so I knew the whole set up and I knew Dodi, and we talked about it. 

“But she actually told me that she really loved Charles. He was the one she would always love. He was the one that got away, and she said, ‘It’s very important to me, Ingrid, that my boys know that their father loved me. It’s really, really important.’ 

“And she said, ‘And of course, the world won’t know because they won’t see the letters that we wrote to each other.’ They are in the Royal Archives, but of course you have to wait 50 years to see them.”

Charles praises Diana’s ‘beautiful long brown legs’

Ingrid, whose new book Catherine & Diana compares the lives of the two royals, also revealed some of the contents of those letters.

She said: “But Charles wrote her the most beautiful, beautiful love letters, in which he praised her and talked about her in the most loving way saying, ‘I think about your beautiful long brown legs.’ I mean, that’s very charming, isn’t it? Quite sexy, I suppose. 

“But he did love her. He may not have loved her in the very beginning, and he may not have loved her by the end, but he always loved her and he felt so bad that he couldn’t make the marriage work. He was plagued by guilt because he knew he was the one that should have made it work.

“But her intense jealousy and many, many other things… they were just not suited at the time.”

The royal biographer added: “But Diana also said to me she thought if they’d met when they were older, they probably would have made it work and conquered the world; that’s what she loved to say.”

Sign up to HELLO! VIP to watch the live podcast episode in full.

William and Harry’s reactions to Earl Spencer’s book

Prince William and Prince Harry have both avoided reporters’ questions about their uncle’s new memoir about their mother.

The brothers were separately asked about Swan Song: Diana, My Sister during public appearances in London this week – but neither responded.

According to Charles Spencer, 62, both of Diana’’ sons were made aware of the project before its publication. He told People that William and Harry – along with their aunts Lady Sarah and Lady Jane – were all informed about the memoir at the same time.

Harry ‘completely fine’ with the book

“All four of them, I told them [at] exactly the same time. And I can say that Harry is completely fine about it,” Spencer said.

He further said that Harry had just one concern: whether the book contained “anything embarrassing” about him.

“I said, ‘There isn’t,'” Charles recalled. “I think it’s natural that people so in the public eye are concerned how they will come across in the book. But I could reassure both of them that they’re, of course, in the book, but really as examples of two little boys who had the most exceptional mother. I’m not in any way compromising their privacy at all.”

Concerns about the portrayal of their father, King Charles

The Earl also acknowledged that William and Harry could have concerns about the book’s portrayal of their father, King Charles.

“Yeah, that was a concern,’ he told the publication. “I mean, I don’t want this to sound loaded, but there was an awful lot I could have put in and I didn’t. If I wanted to write a scandalous book about Prince Charles or King Charles as he is now, it would really be a jaw-dropper, but I’m not here to do that.”