Ken Wharfe was Princess Diana’s bodyguard and friend back in the 1990s. Wharfe was an RPO – royal protection officer – for Diana and her sons in the years before Diana’s royal protection was lifted (either by her call or the palace’s). Wharfe chimes in on royal stories once in a blue moon, and as I’ve noted before, I think Wharfe is rarely sought as a royal commentator because he does not have a poker face. He tends to tell the truth about Diana, about King Charles, and about Prince Harry and Prince William. More than a decade ago, Wharfe pointed out that William had become “arrogant, spoilt and very difficult.” Post-Sussexit, he pointed out that William “played second fiddle” to charismatic Harry. Well, Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair asked Wharfe to chime in on Charles Spencer’s Swan Song and whether Diana would have wanted her brother to write it.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Ken Wharfe—who served as a protection officer first for Prince William and Prince Harry in 1986 and then for Princess Diana from 1987 to 1993—said that Diana would “have welcomed” her younger brother’s speaking out about how she was treated by the royal family and his decision not to allow the late Queen Elizabeth II to reinstate Diana’s HRH title after her death….Wharfe says that Spencer clearly wanted to tell his side of the story and had every right to do so.

“Is he settling scores? Yes, probably. As a brother, I think he has every right to,” Wharfe told Vanity Fair. “I believe him and his version of events. I don’t see why he would make it up.”

According to Wharfe, Spencer wrote the book “as a continuation” of the eulogy he delivered at his sister’s September 1997 funeral, in which he described the Spencer family as her “blood family” and accused the media of hounding Diana to her death.

“I don’t think Charles Spencer was ever going to be friends with the Prince of Wales, and there’s clearly no love lost. Spencer blamed Charles for the downfall of the marriage because of [Charles’s] affair with Camilla, and I saw firsthand how much pain that caused Diana,” Wharfe explained.

“Everyone from Charles to the palace men in gray suits were trying to tell Diana she was wrong, but I witnessed it myself. Camilla was very much on the scene and that was so hard for Diana. What sent her over the top was the collapse of the marriage at the end of the ’80s. I was with her at Camilla’s sister Annabel Elliot’s 40th birthday, and it was horrendous for her. The prince left her to go and sit with Camilla in the basement, leaving Diana alone. It was an unforgivable act. Everyone knew what was going on, and I felt very sorry for her.

“Spencer was her sounding board. This all went back to him. As a brother he was protective of her,” he said.

While William and Harry have so far declined to comment on their uncle’s book, Wharfe said there was an expectation that the 30-year anniversary of their mother’s death wold inevitably thrust her into the spotlight once again.

“I don’t think William has an acrimonious relationship with Charles Spencer, but they don’t spend a lot of time together. Harry is closer [to his uncle]. I always predicted Harry would come back [from the United States]. I think Diana would have wanted him to come back to Britain. More than that, she’d have wanted him to be happy.”

[From Vanity Fair]

“Everyone from Charles to the palace men in gray suits were trying to tell Diana she was wrong, but I witnessed it myself. Camilla was very much on the scene and that was so hard for Diana….” Yep. The palace continues to gaslight Charles Spencer in the exact same way they gaslit Diana. Camilla was ALWAYS there. Camilla and Charles did everything to break Diana, to malign her, to gaslight her, to convince her that she was crazy. And of course Charles Spencer has every right to tell this story! Also, something worth noting: Spencer has barely said one word about Camilla in the past two weeks. Spencer’s ire is directed at King Charles, as it should be, but it’s funny to me that he inherited his sister’s blood feud against Camilla too.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.