Spectator by Seema Goswami: Who gets to tell Princess Diana’s story?

Princess Diana’s brother wants to talk about her marriage and death, again. Who, exactly, benefits from this retelling?

Who has the right to tell your story? I only ask because all of this week, the media have been hyperventilating about Earl Spencer’s book about his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, called Swan Song. As I write this column, the book is yet to be released but some jaw-dropping extracts have appeared in the British media and the Earl himself has been doing the rounds of television studios to flog his version of events that occurred nearly three decades ago, when his sister died in a tragic car crash in Paris.

According to Spencer, King Charles (then the Prince of Wales) sounded “giddily elated” like a “lottery winner” when he spoke to him after his sister’s death. He goes on to add that a heated phone call ended with Charles telling Spencer about Diana, “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.” Not surprisingly, Buckingham Palace hit back with a statement that was a reworking of their masterly putdown, “Recollections may vary”. And soon, the two warring sides were briefing the media as the story spun out of control.

Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, has written a new book about her. Was it necessary?

But my concern this week is not about what King Charles did or did not say or whether the four-times married Earl Spencer has any place on the moral high ground, or even whether Diana was treated badly by the British royal family. What I am thinking about today is: Who has the right to tell your story?

In the case of Diana, it is a particularly pertinent question to post. While she lived, Diana had few qualms about briefing favoured journalists about her version of events. She famously collaborated with Andrew Morton who wrote Diana, Her True Story, dealing with the breakdown of her marriage. When she died, one of the people she spoke to last was the Daily Mail journalist (and her close friend) Richard Kay, to tell him how her Paris vacation with Dodi Fayed was going. So, we have plenty of information from the protagonist herself when it comes to the facts of her life.

What then, could a brother who was effectively estranged from her at the time of her death, possibly add to all these accounts? And who is to say that his version would not be coloured by guilt about letting down his sister, anger at losing her so early, and, cynics might say, the temptation to spice things up to ensure blockbuster sales?

Kristen Stewart played her in Spencer (2021), which shows her agonising over her divorce.

But while siblings don’t necessarily have a ringside view of each other’s married lives, it doesn’t mean that husbands and lovers are necessarily more reliable narrators of a deceased person’s life. Their accounts are bound to be coloured by their own perspectives, and their version of events may not be the most accurate one. The same goes for children, close friends, and even work colleagues. As the saying goes, there are at least three sides to every story – and each side tells a very different tale.

Certainly, everyone is entitled to write their own story, pushing forward their own version of events. But what no one is entitled to do is to presume to speak on behalf of someone long dead, who cannot push back or offer any corrective commentary from beyond the grave. Sometimes, it is better to let sleeping Princesses lie – and allow them to, finally, rest in peace.

From HT Brunch, September 26, 2026

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