While I absolutely believe that the Earl Spencer is rather chaotic, I applaud him for how he’s conducted himself around his nephews and the royal family. After his fiery and iconic eulogy at Princess Diana’s 1997 funeral, Charles Spencer kept his cards close to the vest when it came to the Windsors. We knew that he still spent time with Diana’s sons, but we didn’t know the extent of the relationships until quite recently. Nowadays, it’s pretty much established by royal reporters that Prince William barely has much of a relationship with his Spencer uncle, meanwhile Uncle Charles sounds like one of several surrogate fathers for Prince Harry. The Earl also waited until his nephews were well into their 40s before he even sat down to write Swan Song, his memoir about his sister Diana. That was smart, to wait 29 years after Diana’s death, to give William and Harry the time and space to become men before he told them the truth about Diana and their father. Well, given how close Harry is to his Uncle Charles, is it some galloping shock that Harry was likely well aware of what’s in Swan Song?

Prince Harry was made well aware of his uncle Charles Spencer’s bombshell claims about Princess Diana’s death in his new book ahead of its upcoming publication, multiple sources confirm to Page Six.

“Harry knew what was in the book – it didn’t come as a shock,” said one source in the know.

Indeed, we’re told the renegade royal discussed the book, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister” – which is out next Tuesday in both the UK and the US – with his uncle during his visit to the Spencer ancestral estate, Althorp, back in July when Harry brought Meghan Markle and their kids to see his mother’s burial site.

The book is set to open up long-closed wounds about Charles and Diana’s troubled marriage that was plagued by infidelity and ended in divorce in August 1996. In his memoir, Spencer, who was Diana’s youngest sibling, makes the explosive claim that King Charles told him “Rest assured, we’ll forget Diana soon enough” in a phone call days after her death aged 36 in a Paris car crash in August 1997. The 62-year-old earl writes of how he fought with Charles, 77, over the decision to allow Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk in their mother’s funeral procession.

Harry, who is now living back in the UK with Markle and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, has remained close to Diana’s younger brother. He is also close to Diana’s other siblings. Her sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, who were at both of his children’s christenings. His estranged brother, Prince William, however, has kept his relationship with the Spencer clan more private and out of the public eye.

[From Page Six]

I noted last month that the Earl is using the same publisher (Penguin Random House) as his nephew. I’m not saying that means that Harry has read Swan Song or Harry knows what’s in the book, I just think it’s notable. Now, do we also believe that Uncle Charles has told some or all of these stories to Harry before now? Perhaps. Even though Harry loves and adores his father, I think Harry sees his father’s faults well enough. Sort of. I don’t know, I go back and forth on that, actually. In Spare, Harry was at times quite incisive about his father, but Harry’s actions belie his hope and optimism that his dogs–t father will eventually step up and act like a man (too late).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.