Laura Kuenssberg staggered as Earl Spencer makes King Charles ‘threat’ on BBC

Earl Spencer has been accused of making “threats” against King Charles during a BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg after he warned that he “knows lots of things” about the monarch. In an interview filmed at his home in Althorp House, Northamptonshire, the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales was asked about allegations he made about the Royal Family in his new book about his sister.

They included a claim that King Charles, then Prince of Wales, told him shortly after Diana’s death that she would “soon be forgotten”. During the interview ahead of the publication of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Earl Spencer said: “This is not a threat, it’s a fact. I know lots of things about the King, which I chose not to include in the book because they were not relevant.

“I’m a historian, I’ve worked for decent news organisations like yourselves [the BBC], and it’s just my duty to lay it out. There is a reason why those words were in my eulogy, and I have to give that reason.”

Clearly staggered, Kuenssberg replied: “Sounds a bit like a threat, if you’re saying you know other things about the King that could be damaging to him?”

Earl Spencer replied: “No, not at all a threat. It’s just the reality. I want to give the context of what I said, and what I didn’t say. I’m not threatening.

“I’ve got no interest – I’m not a salacious writer on any level. The point being that if I was a salacious writer and wanted to write that sort of thing, I have plenty of other things I could have said and really have no interest in doing so.”

As the interview drew to a close, Kuenssberg put to him: “Some people might wonder, as maybe in every family, some family secrets are better left unsaid?”

Earl Spencer replied: “They certainly are and they have been left unsaid.”

When asked: “Will you say more?” he said: “Nope. That’s it, that’s me done.”