Charles Spencer is in America this week for more book promotion. On Monday, he appeared, in person, at CBS Mornings’ studio for an in-depth conversation with Gayle King. Gayle has really made a name for herself with the royal coverage and royal-adjacent coverage, hasn’t she? And she pressed the Earl Spencer on his nephews and on whether he’s telling the truth about his recollections of what then-Prince Charles said to him after Princess Diana died. Once again, it’s worth noting that Buckingham Palace didn’t call Charles Spencer a liar. They tried to discredit him by saying that grief has clouded his memory, they tried to call him broke-ass, and they tried to say Spencer has an ax to grind. But the palace’s arguments simply make no sense, and most people feel like Spencer’s recollections of King Charles are completely in-character. Some highlights from the interview (I’m including the video below):

Buckingham Palace is big mad: “The part of the conversation they’re particularly upset by is when he said to me about Diana, ‘We’ll forget her soon enough.’ And I know I heard that. I’ve only had two conversations on the phone with the now-King, so it’s definitely the case.”

He told Barbara Walters about it at the time: “I told people at the time. I told Barbara Walters, actually, at the time. But they have to gaslight; they have to sort of pretend there’s something wrong with my mind or my memory. There’s nothing wrong with either.”

He’s been in touch with his nephews in the past week: Charles Spencer says he’s been in touch with Prince William and Prince Harry since the release of his new book about their mother, Princess Diana. During the interview, [Gayle] King said she was “curious about their reaction.” Spencer, 62, said, “I decided not to have anyone involved in the book, so no one knew about it except my wife, obviously, and the publishers. I didn’t tell any of the family until just before it was released publicly as a thing because I didn’t want anyone to think — particularly with Harry, who people know I had to stay in the summer — that he was in any way involved in this. It was really important for me that they weren’t.”

Whether William and Harry approve of the book: King then asked, “Have you talked to them after the book?” to which Spencer replied, “Yes, I have.” When she followed up by asking if his nephews “approve” of the book, Diana’s brother said, “I don’t know. I haven’t asked about approval. Harry was sort of like, ‘Is there anything in there that would be embarrassing to me?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ I’m very specific about people’s privacy. I can say that Harry is completely fine about it. He said, ‘I hope there’s nothing embarrassing about him in it. I said, ‘There isn’t.’ I think they were actually worried where I was going up to with the book. It pretty much ends in 1997 with Diana’s death, and there’s a tiny postscript by the grave. So I think there was this, ‘Gosh, what’s he written about?’ And I think it’s natural that people so in the public eye are concerned how they will come across in the book. But I could reassure both of them that they’re, of course, in the book, but really as examples of two little boys who had the most exceptional mother; I’m not in any way compromising their privacy at all.”

[From People Magazine]

I really appreciate that he’s calling out the palace in real time. Did Buckingham Palace courtiers not realize that Spencer would be going on a full book promotion, and that he would be able to clap back on all of the palace’s ham-fisted talking points? At one point, Gayle mentions that Spencer is getting “a lot of criticism” for the book, and Spencer corrected her, saying: “Well, you say I’m getting a lot of criticism – I’m getting a lot of criticism FED by Buckingham Palace but not from other people.”

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, screencaps courtesy of CBS Mornings.