This week’s Lownie Report Podcast begins with what I’ve been hearing about Andrew and Fergie and the much-mooted and now-denied story about a potential seven-figure book deal.
As I discuss, Fergie is planning a comeback following her move back to the UK, and Andrew is still largely in denial about his downfall and back to his usual arrogant self, visiting business contacts in France and the Middle East and visiting his sister Anne and brother Edward. I talked about what could still be coming down the line for Andrew with developments in the US and why the muted mood music around the police investigation suggests the investigations may eventually be dropped.
We also looked in detail at Earl Spencer’s new book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister and my perspective as a publishing agent on the farrago around the Piers Morgan libel accusations and how such an esteemed publisher as Penguin didn’t seem to do the most basic checks.
As I pointed out, Earl Spencer has apparently indemnified Penguin, so it could prove very costly for him, but I have also been told that heads will roll at the publisher for mistakes that have done great damage to the credibility of the book and allowed the King’s allies to discredit the Earl.
I found the book much more nuanced than reports have suggested and think we are lucky to have the account of a man who was at the centre of such a key moment in our national history. It’s unlikely Diana’s sisters will ever share their stories and, as the years have rolled on, there are fewer such people around who can challenge the official narrative. As I say in the podcast, it’s crucial that the powerful and influential are not able to choose their own narrative, as the Royal Family so often do, and so books such as Spencer’s are an invaluable source for future historians.
We also discussed the King’s response and the ways in which certain quarters attacked Spencer and his recollections, and I talked about some of the parallels with how ‘Entitled’ was attacked and how similarly they played the man rather than the ball in attacking me rather than the accusations. Note that the King didn’t actually deny Spencer’s account in his deliberate echo of his mother’s iconic line that ‘recollections may vary’.
I noted the speed with which a former girlfriend of Charles, who was in contact with him in 1997 and said he had spoken about Diana’s death in a manner similar to the way Spencer alleges, had been contacted by the Palace and told not to talk to the press or to share any of her private letters.
Having written a book about Lord Louis Mountbatten, I addressed the astonishing claim in Spencer’s book that his father was warned off Princess Elizabeth by Prince Philip’s uncle and why I think it unlikely that there was ever a serious romance there.
We also spoke about the claim that Diana told Spencer she was divorcing Charles because he was in love with his valet and why I think it was a mistake to include this in such a curt manner that provided little further context.
Finally, we discussed the wider impact of the book on King Charles and Queen Camilla and why the subject of Diana inevitably throws into stark relief how little has actually changed in the Royal Family despite the late Princess of Wales showing them that there was another way to do monarchy that may have done much more to bring the institution into the 21st century than the present King has managed to do.
Unfortunately, the jealousy and self-pity that Charles has always indulged in have meant that, rather than learning the lessons from Diana’s unprecedented impact, he has carried on exactly as before, with little or no reform of the institution he leads.