Earl Spencer says he was 'really upset' by 'condescending and not straight' Buckingham Palace response to his claims about Charles in Diana memoir

Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer has revealed he was 'really upset' by the 'condescending' Buckingham Palace response to his claims against King Charles.The earl accused the monarch of gaslighting him after the palace pushed back against his allegation that Charles said 'we'll forget her soon enough' after Diana died.He has made a series of claims in a new book chronicling Diana's life which prompted the palace statement, saying that 'the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason'.The earl - whose memoir 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister' has been serialised by the Daily Mail - was asked about the King's response on ABC's Good Morning America.He said: 'Well, it's not every day you're gaslit by a king, but I was really upset with that because I thought it was very, not only condescending, but not straight.'What I said is straight and true. And what did they come back with? That. It doesn't say he didn't say it either. That's what I found interesting. I was really shocked, actually. And actually with a sort of PR hat on, I thought "that's a strange move".'But as a brother speaking the truth - it's not my truth, it's the truth - I was offended. And that's why I will always stick by the truth, and I think it was a mistake for them to say that.'Maggie Rulli, who interviewed the earl at his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire, also revealed that he told her Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'didn't mention their move back to the UK when they stayed with him over the summer'. Earl Spencer is interviewed about his book on Princess Diana for ABC's Good Morning America Earl Spencer speaks to ABC journalist Maggie Rulli at his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire King Charles, pictured giving a speech about AI at Dumfries House in Cumnock last ThursdayShe also asked him whether Harry or Prince William had read the book, and he 'told us no, he wanted the sole responsibility of his words to rest only on his shoulders'.Ms Rulli, an ABC News foreign correspondent, added: 'So right now, those two [Harry and William] are learning about the book in the excerpts just like the rest of us.'The Mail on Sunday revealed yesterday that the earl also called the palace's response a 'rather poor imitation of the 'recollections may vary' quote' – the late Queen's response to Harry and Meghan's allegations in their Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021.He said: 'It is not every day you wake up to find you've been gaslit by the King.'It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I'd lied without the King being able to deny what I'd said.'I also thought it was a rather poor imitation of the 'recollections may vary' quote, which was a much more elegant way of putting things, but in these circumstances entirely out of place.'In response to the claims in the memoir, a palace spokesman said last Wednesday: 'While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.'Speaking about an alleged row over Diana's funeral arrangements involving her sons, the earl said: '(The King) went ballistic, would be the right term, and started really going for my family as a whole, about their sense of duty, not being adequate enough, and ranted for a while, I have no idea how long, but it was a significant period, and I just listened.'And then he stopped, and I thought, "Oh now he's going to pull himself together and say something more appropriate". Prince Philip, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles follow behind Princess Diana's coffin during the funeral procession in London in September 1997 Charles and Diana on their last official trip together to South Korea in November 1992Earl Spencer, Diana and Charles at the earl's 21st birthday party in 1985 at a London restaurant'And then he said, "We'll forget her soon enough".'Charles is said to have made the comments about his ex-wife in a row with the earl over whether the then Prince William and Prince Harry should follow Diana's funeral cortege.One of Queen Elizabeth II's senior aides had told the earl that William and Harry were to walk in the funeral procession, prompting the earl to state 'that's not going to happen'.Charles called minutes later and told him that 18 years earlier, he had walked in the funeral procession of his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, it is claimed. But the earl pointed out that Charles had been 30 at the time of Lord Mountbatten's funeral in 1979.The earl also spoke of how Charles's phone call following the car crash in 1997 'all sounded strangely matter-of-fact'.One passage of the book read: 'Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time.'He let me know he had informed William and Harry of their mother's death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral.'It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.'Looking back now, I suspect the prince's first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not.'In another extract of the book, the earl told of his memories of the funeral, and his concern for Harry, after he observed a 'lack of obvious care' for the then 12-year-old prince.Diana died on August 31, 1997 in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36. Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur Henri Paul also died in the crash.