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Politics218 outlets ran this3 min read

Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' after Diana's death

New memoir excerpts detail alleged phone call and Buckingham Palace's response to claims.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Fotografie realizată de la balconul Palatului Buckingham: Nunta lui Charles, Prințul de Wales, și a Lady Diana Spencer, miercuri, 29 iulie 1981, Londra, Regatul Unit. În alaiul miresei se aflau Edward Van Cutsem, Sarah Jane Gasele, Clementine Hambro și Lordul Nicholas Windsor (de la stânga la dreapta). Rochia de mireasă a fost creată de David și Elizabeth Emanuel. Rochia era confecționată din mătase de culoare fildeș, tafta pură și dantelă antică, cu 10.000 de perle și paiete, și avea o trenă de 7,5 metri Foto: LNS / Camerapress / Profimedia

What this story says

  • Earl Charles Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' and 'like a lottery winner' in a phone call after Princess Diana's death.
  • Spencer also alleges King Charles suggested he could marry the woman he loved following Diana's death.
  • Buckingham Palace stated that grief can cloud reason and affect memory, responding to claims Charles told Spencer they would 'forget her soon enough'.
  • Diana had previously asked her father to allow her to break off her engagement to Charles, according to Spencer.

Who covered it

Left 30%(34)Centre 44%(50)Right 26%(29)

Percentages are shares of the 113 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 105 of the 218 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

57/100

Hype

65/100

218 sources · methodology

Earl Charles Spencer has made new claims about King Charles's reaction to Princess Diana's death in 1997. In his forthcoming memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer alleges that Charles, then Prince of Wales, sounded 'euphoric' and 'like a lottery winner' during a phone call shortly after Diana died in a car crash. Spencer suggests that Charles's immediate thoughts were about how the event might free him to marry the woman he loved.

The memoir also includes claims that Diana had asked her father for permission to end her engagement to Charles. Spencer writes that Diana felt deeply hurt and confused by Charles's lack of interest in her, particularly after his return from a trip to New York. According to Spencer, Diana told her father she could not go through with the marriage to a man who clearly did not love her. Spencer's book further alleges that Charles told Spencer they would 'forget her soon enough' in the days after Diana's death.

Disagreement on King Charles's reaction

Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' and 'like a lottery winner' in a phone call after Princess Diana's death. Digi 24 reports Spencer's account that Charles seemed 'euphoric' and 'like a lottery winner' when he called. In contrast, Buckingham Palace responded to claims that Charles told Spencer they would 'forget her soon enough' by stating that 'grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise'.

What the coverage left out

None of the reports printed below mention Diana asking her father to allow her to break off her engagement to Charles. This detail was included in the full report from Digi 24 but was not present in the digests from other outlets.

Tags:#RoyalFamily#PrincessDiana#KingCharles#EarlSpencer#Memoir

Coverage settled. We checked this 11 times and stopped on 23 Sept 2026, 11:01. The figures above are what it finished at.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

The Prince Of Wales And The Duchess Of Cornwall Attend "A Starry Night In The Nilgiri Hills"
CosmopolitanLeft

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

34 rated outlets

  • The left-leaning outlets reported that Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'giddily elated' and 'like a lottery winner' after Princess Diana's death. Several digests stated Charles Spencer's memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, contains these allegations.
  • Cosmopolitan, which published a full report, stated Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying "His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory". This outlet also reported a source close to King Charles said the alleged comment was "just not in his nature".
  • Some digests mentioned Earl Spencer suggested the then-Prince Charles might have felt freer to remarry. Other digests did not include this detail or the Buckingham Palace response.

Centre

50 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated reports focused on Earl Spencer's claims about King Charles's demeanour after Princess Diana's death and Buckingham Palace's official response. Sky News UK and WTVB highlighted Spencer's description of Charles sounding 'giddily elated' or 'like a lottery winner'. Digi 24 and ANSA also reported these claims, alongside the palace's statement that grief can affect memory and judgment.

Right

29 rated outlets

  • All six right‑rated outlets reported that Earl Spencer alleges King Charles reacted with euphoria after Princess Diana’s death, describing the monarch’s response as akin to winning a lottery, being overjoyed, ecstatic or “excitedly happy.” The digests uniformly present the claim as a new revelation from Spencer’s memoir.
  • The West Australian’s digest led on the story as a “new allegation,” while Focus online called the claim “serious” and said Spencer attacks the king again. Protothema noted a “state of ecstasy,” Expressen cited the Guardian’s report of the claim, and Iefimerida referenced the Daily Mail and gave the memoir title “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.”
  • None of the digests mention any details about the memoir’s publication date, the number of pages, or other family members’ reactions. Only Iefimerida supplies the book’s title; the other five omit it. Apart from the Western Journal’s note of a Buckingham Palace statement pushing back, the digests do not include any official response or verification.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' after Diana's death?
Of the 113 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 30% are rated left, 44% are rated centre, 26% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 218. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' after Diana's death left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 113 rated outlets on this story, 30% are rated left, 44% are rated centre, 26% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' after Diana's death biased?
Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' after Diana's death is one event reported by 218 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which outlets covered Earl Spencer claims King Charles sounded 'euphoric' after Diana's death?
218 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What does Earl Spencer claim about King Charles's reaction to Princess Diana's death?
Earl Charles Spencer claims that King Charles sounded 'euphoric' and 'like a lottery winner' in a phone call shortly after Princess Diana's death in 1997. He also suggests that Charles's thoughts turned to marrying the woman he loved.
How did Buckingham Palace respond to these claims?
Buckingham Palace issued a statement acknowledging that grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and influence memories. This response was made in reaction to specific claims, including that Charles told Earl Spencer they would 'forget her soon enough'.
Did Princess Diana want to break off her engagement to Charles?
According to Earl Spencer's memoir, Princess Diana asked her father for permission to end her engagement to Charles. Spencer writes that Diana felt Charles did not love her and she was deeply hurt and confused.

Read it at the source

218 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

34
Show 26 more

Centre

50
Show 42 more

Right

29
Show 21 more

Not rated

105
Show 97 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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