The brother of Princess Diana has claimed in published extracts of his new memoir that King Charles sounded "giddily elated – like a lottery winner" in a phone call to him immediately after her death.
It's the second high-profile allegation to emerge from Earl Spencer's book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, in as many days.
The Earl, who said the phone was ringing constantly at the time, claimed in his book: "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."
King Charles was also alleged to have sounded "strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster," the Earl alleged.
The excerpt continued: "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.
"It can be hard to feel too much sympathy for an ex-spouse, or those who care for them profoundly, after bitter divorce."
Buckingham Palace issued a rare statement responding to an earlier excerpt, in which Spencer claimed Charles told him, "rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough".
According to Spencer, that comment came during a heated phone call in which he and Charles argued over funeral arrangements, after Spencer told a royal aide that Princes William and Harry would not take part in their mother's funeral procession.
"That's not going to happen," Spencer recalled telling the aide — prompting a call from Charles insisting it should. It was during that argument, Spencer claims, Charles made the remark.
"I can't believe you just said that," Spencer wrote, saying he then hung up.
Spencer said the comment reflected Charles's "pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death," according to the Daily Mail.
In its response, Buckingham Palace said: "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."
Spencer's book is due for release next week, just under a year out from the 30th anniversary of the crash that killed Diana. He has said the aim of the book is "to tell the truth about Diana from her brother's perspective, just as I attempted to do when speaking at her funeral."
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