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King Charles III has responded to allegations from Princess Diana's brother that, in the days following her death, the king remarked they would "forget her soon enough."
The claims come from Charles Spencer's upcoming memoir, "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," which describes a tense confrontation between him and the king in the aftermath of Diana's 1997 death.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson's statement on the matter 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 judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."
Charles Spencer says Queen Elizabeth's senior aides told him Princes William and Harry would walk in Princess Diana's funeral procession, a plan he opposed, telling them flatly it would not happen.
He writes in his memoir that he argued Diana would not have wanted her sons subjected to such an ordeal.
Spencer's memoir is due out Sept. 22 and delves into one of the most turbulent periods in royal history.
Diana's death in 1997 plunged Queen Elizabeth's reign into a week widely regarded as one of its most perilous.
The royal family faced mounting public anger over its decision not to fly the Union flag at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, as well as over perceptions that the queen was slow to acknowledge the nation's grief.
Prince Harry has previously said that walking behind his mother's coffin as a 12-year-old was something no child "should be asked to do."
Princess Diana died in the early hours of Aug. 31, 1997, after the car she was traveling in crashed into a pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris.
Diana, who had divorced Prince Charles the year before, was with her partner, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul, both of whom also died in the crash. Her bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was the only survivor.
The vehicle had been trying to evade paparazzi photographers pursuing it through the city.
French investigators later determined that Paul had been drinking heavily and taking prescription medication, and that he lost control of the vehicle while driving at high speed, placing full responsibility for the crash on him.
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