Diana remains utterly unforgettable – it’s her greatest revenge

“Rest assured we will forget her soon enough.” Words spoken by King Charles in the febrile days after the death of Princess Diana, according to her brother Earl Spencer, that have sparked yet another royal crisis. Words that now, if true, ring extremely hollow indeed, because almost 30 years since she died, Diana remains one of the most famous, beloved and emulated women in the world. I know the rich are different but if King Charles actually said those words out loud then it takes selfish callousness to a whole new level. And if you add in the further claims by Spencer that Charles sounded “giddily elated – like a lottery winner” on the morning Diana died, you have a very disturbing image of the man who is now our King and of those courtiers closest to him, who Earl Spencer described as “relieved, indeed pleased” by the news of Diana’s death. This is jaw-dropping stuff. Interestingly though, the King issued a rare and firm rebuttal to the book earlier this week, including the line “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise”. Of course, only the then Prince Charles and Charles Spencer know exactly what was said between them when they met to plan Diana’s funeral. Whether the King was in his right mind or not at the time, if he was so cruel, then it would go a long way to explain why Earl Spencer made that impassioned and visceral speech at Diana’s funeral, when he vowed defiantly that her blood family would make sure her son’s would not be “simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned”. Listening to that speech today still gives me goosebumps, as does the spontaneous applause from mourners standing hundreds deep outside Westminster cathedral. A cacophony of pain that swelled and echoed across London and then across the entire Kingdom. It was positively medieval, as were the wails and moans of people lining the streets and throwing flowers on Diana’s coffin while sobbing uncontrollably. I was there that morning of the funeral amongst the vast crowds of mourners and will never forget the dense, heavy atmosphere of grief which reached a crescendo at the sight of William and Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin. In his new book, Spencer writes his sister Diana would never have wanted her boys to endure such a public ordeal and he fought to stop the plans, and that courtiers wanted them to act almost as human shields to protect Charles from any abuse from the crowd.The fallout from that day lingers. Harry in particular has talked a lot about how he still carries the trauma of that day. He might articulate it in psychobabble, but it clearly cut him to the bone, and makes his chippy resentment of the whole royal institution more understandable. I do wonder what Diana’s sons will make of Spencer’s book – and their father’s reaction. Of course they won’t be phoning each other up to talk through the implications. They remain deeply estranged, but hasn’t this whole rumpus shown that the old royal adage of “Never complain, never explain” has been well and truly laid to rest. The King’s swift, stinging reposte to Spencer’s allegations prove the royals will no longer keep their heads down and their mouths shut until the storm clouds roll by. There are echoes of the late Queen Elizabeth’s carefully worded response to allegations of racism made by Harry and Meghan when she famously declared “recollections may vary”. In recent times, the royals have survived the death of Diana, the scandal surrounding Prince Andrew and the torrent of accusations from Meghan and Harry. I have no doubt they will also survive the aftermath of this book. But every single time there is yet another damaging allegation, they look more tarnished and irrelevant, especially to the younger generation who won’t bend the knee or tug their forelocks. The Royal Family know they are living in dangerous times and need to reform. Prince William has made that very clear. When his time comes, we will see a more modern monarchy. As for Diana, well, she remains unforgotten and her memory will outlast them all. Forever young and beautiful. And that’s her best revenge, on all of the people who made her unhappy, including her ex-husband, but mostly his cabal of men in grey suits who ridiculed her and put obstacles in the way of her happiness. I will be interviewing Earl Spencer on my show on Wednesday 9.30am, ITV. This week… thanks to horrific London traffic, I missed my afternoon Everstrong gym class (designed for the more mature exerciser) and in a moment of foolhardiness, signed up for a Hyrox session later that evening. This is a punishing workout, involving running, rowing machines, heavy wall balls and lots of burpees. It’s also been the subject of much fierce debate online after a competitor in a Hyrox competition in China soiled herself midway through the event. She stubbornly refused to rush red-faced and sweating to the showers to clean herself up. Instead, she kept right on until the finish line and to hell with everyone else. Some have praised her commitment and endurance, and she did go on to win the competition, but I think what she did was horrendously selfish and potentially hazardous to her fellow competitors.She has since apologised and forfeited the win, but will forever be remembered as that woman who sh*t herself. Not exactly a badge of honour. At least Gary Linker and Paula Radcliffe did it with a bit of discretion. And happy to report all of my class made it through our session without any unfortunate mishaps.