// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Key takeaways from BBC interview as Earl Spencer defends claims about King
Earl Spencer has told the BBC writing his book about sister Princess Diana, which has made headlines for its criticism of King Charles, was his "duty...as an eyewitness to history".
In an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg ahead of the memoir's release on Tuesday, Earl Spencer said he wanted "to put things down once and for all that were true".
Among claims made in Swan Song about the King, who was then the Prince of Wales, was that he said "we'll forget her soon enough" during an argument over whether Princes William and Harry should walk in Diana's funeral procession.
In a strongly worded response, Buckingham Palace said the King was "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".
Here are the key moments from Earl Spencer's interview, which include his first account of how he was told about Diana's death and criticism of press coverage of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Earl Spencer was in South Africa when Princess Diana died in a Paris car crash in the early hours of 31 August 1997, along with close friend Dodi Fayed and the driver of the car.
He told the BBC he got a call in the middle of the night from his sister Lady Jane Fellowes, who said Princess Diana had been in a crash but "it's not too serious".
But then he "kept getting more and more distressing calls" from his sister.
"And then my sister Jane said, 'I'm afraid she's died.' It started... as a little prang, and then it became a broken leg, perhaps a head injury, and then death."
Earl Spencer describes 'giddy tone' in Charles' voice during call after Diana's death