Earl Spencer TORCHED by Tom Bower for ‘undoubtedly forming an alliance’ with the Sussexes

I really felt sorry for the King first thing this morning when I looked at the front page of the newspapers. For example, the Daily Mail. This is a quote, this is what Lord Spencer says that Charles had said after Diana's death on a heated phone call, rest assured we will forget her soon enough. And I thought, did Charles really say that? And if he did say that, why has it taken 29 years for Spencer to tell us that? Has it got something to do with the book? Tomorrow we get the second instalment. This will be tomorrow's Daily Mail who are serialising this book and on this quote we're told, and this is not actually a quote, but this is Spencer saying Charles sounded giddily elated on the phone after the death of Diana. Well I have to tell you, not sure I believe any of it. The palace really did hit back last night quite hard. While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief and cloud reason affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise even many years after such a loss. A sort of update really on recollections may vary. I don't believe a word of it. Let me ask you, who do you believe? Tweet hashtag Did Charles say anything to you? Not about the speech, no, but he was, you know, he was perfectly polite all day and we all caught the train from London together to go to the burial in my family home and nothing nasty has ever been said about it by him to me. Tom, it looks like, you know, the fox is shot already, doesn't it? What's he up to? What's he doing? Well, he's not only selling a book but he's also undoubtedly formed an alliance with Harry and with the Duchess to somehow damage the King. I mean, arguments between aristocrats have been going on for a thousand years in British history. They normally end with an execution. I'm sure the King in his tonight will think if only he could cut off his head. I think it's more serious for the King than we can imagine because I have, I mean, when I wrote my book about Charles the rebel king and rebel prince, I had impeccable sources in Balmoral and all sorts of things and I called some of them today and all of them united in saying that Charles was in real grief. The idea that he would even say rest assured, that bit, but the idea was giddily elated. It's complete rubbish. The man was absolutely smitten. He was horrified. I mean, he was frozen. So I think it's rather sad that Charles Spencer, who I had great regard for as a historian, should be doing this. But then Prince Harry did the same with his biography. Could it be money troubles? I think it's money troubles. I think it's money troubles, personal troubles. He's been in therapy. He's not feeling very well and you've got to remember, it's the same publishers that did Harry's book and they want juice from all the money they've given him. They want headlines, which they've got. But I think it's more serious than that. I said here, I think two weeks ago when I was here, that the return of Harry and Meghan is heading towards a crisis. They haven't declared why they're here. They haven't declared how long they're going to stay. The object is not only to ingratiate themselves with the royal family, but cause trouble. And there's no doubt that Harry knew that Spencer was going to bring out this book. So it's a pincer movement. Using the internet without a VPN, a virtual private network, is a bit like taking to the road without car insurance. All it takes is one unlucky moment to cost you a lot of cash. This video's sponsor is Private Internet Access. They are the VPN to help keep you safe. 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Private Internet Access is available for Windows users, Mac OS, Android, Linux, iOS, and you can use one PIA subscription to protect an unlimited amount of devices. And we've got a huge GB News discount for you too. Click the link in this video's description and you'll get a massive 83% off PIA. That's under £2 a month, the price of a coffee, and you'll get an extra four months completely free on top. Also there's a 30-day money-back guarantee too. Visit piavpn.com forward slash GB News to start protecting yourself digitally today. Okay, let's take your premise that Spencer is working with Harry to damage the King. Would Harry really want to damage his father that much? Oh yes, oh yes. I mean, he's motivated of course by Meghan, the most disloyal person there is in the world. No, they're desperate to re-enter Britain on their terms. And their terms are non-negotiable. They must be allowed to have a convoy of protection and all the rest and be back in the royal duties. But what Charles has done is really very, very sad. I mean, after all, this ridiculous story about Fawcett. I mean, when George Smith was interviewed by Diana, and his world documented in my book, I talked to everybody involved. He was in the Priory. He wasn't well. And she had to record it twice because she couldn't work a tape properly. And this is a story that Smith as the valet had been asked to take breakfast to Prince Charles and walked into Charles's bedroom and found him in bed with Fawcett. I mean, it's absolutely ludicrous. No one has ever heard this tape because it disappeared after she died with Paul Burrell. But the idea that Charles Spencer should resuscitate this silly story, which has been so well documented was untrue, and a figment of Diana's imagination. I mean, you've got to remember at that time, Diana wouldn't do anything to harm Charles. But surely, you know, as you say, he was grief-stricken after Diana died, as he naturally would be. She was, whatever, their personal fallout. They had a couple of kids, all the rest of it. And the fact that everything Spencer says is going to be discredited, including that very useful CNN clip from 30 years ago, surely because of that, this of itself doesn't damage the game too much. Well, I think it is destabilising. First of all, it goes all around the world. I mean, this book will be read in every country, just like Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey on the Netflix series, or Harry's book. It all damages not only Britain, but the reputation of the royal family, which is intrinsic to Britain. So the damage is global. And I don't think people will want to pick up the truth. They like the headline. And the trouble is that, undoubtedly, towards the end of the week or the weekend, Charles Spencer will give an interview. He's very plausible. And he wants to damage Charles, because for one reason or another, they've never got on. And you've got to remember one other thing about Charles Spencer. In that summer of 97, when Diana was in London, it was very hot, didn't know what to do with her two sons, she asked her brother, can I spend a week on your estate at Althorp? And he said no, because the paparazzi will get in the way. So she goes off with Al-Fayed, and there's a contest. And Paul Burrell, Vex Valley, said to me, funny about Charles Spencer, in a lifetime he wouldn't have her in a house, but when she's dead, he charges £10 a visit. I don't know what to say to that, but there we are. Michael, I just felt sorry for the King this morning. I don't know him well. I've met him a few times. You probably know him better than me. Tom studied him. I mean, we can agree or disagree on things, but he does always, to me, seem like a profoundly decent human being. He's an extremely decent, kind, compassionate, generous human being. And let's look at the evidence. You know, I'm a lawyer. Let's just look at some evidence here. This is a man who has helped over a million young people in the Prince's Trust. This is a man who's himself established 20 charities, not patronages, actual charities that he himself has built. He's one of the world's biggest philanthropists in terms of the amount of money, billions, that he's raised for good causes. His convening power is enormous. He is a good man who clearly loves his children. It is unbelievable to me, these reports. I don't believe them. It doesn't sound, the evidence doesn't support it in the man that we all know after his long tenure as Prince of Wales. And so I just don't believe it. This is a man who supported the arts, the built environment, conservation. He's a consummate diplomat. You know, he speaks French and German and Italian. He even speaks American, as we saw with his visit to President Trump. He did do rather well over there, didn't he? He did fantastically well. And by the way, no, we don't have any politician that comes within a million miles of this. We have a very good king. We have a man who has dedicated his life to his family and this country. And doesn't deserve this. And doesn't deserve. His birthday is in a couple of months. He's approaching 80. He'll be 78 at the next birthday. He's had cancer. No, I know. And he doesn't deserve this. I know. It's horrid. It's horrid. I just find this impossible to believe and accept. It's very interesting, the CNN clip No, it is. It is. Now, John, you're not necessarily the biggest fan of the sort of aristocracy and the monarchy in this country. But do you feel sorry for the king? I don't feel sorry for him because he's got such great dignity. And I've seen him at the Commonwealth House of Government meeting. I've seen the commitment he gives to all the nations to which he is the leader of the Commonwealth, but also to which he's the monarch. And there are many of them. And I thought, ludicrous story. I hadn't thought to check what did Spencer say at the time. That feels like a real gotcha moment to me. And I think, picking up on what you said, I was saying, why has he said this 29 years later? I say, he said it 29 years and a book deal later. This is for sales. And don't disagree with Tom. A lie goes round the world. Tom, you know about these things. Day one. Day two. We've now seen what comes out tomorrow. Giddily elated. How many days do these stories run for? For a long time, because the book has to sell. The paper has paid a lot of money for serialisation. And we haven't yet got to his views on Harry and William, let alone Camilla. I mean, there's a lot to do. And during the end as well, there's a lot he can say about Diana. I mean, he knows quite a bit about her sickness, the whole BBC panorama, all the establishment's shunning of Diana. So there's a lot of stuff he can write about. And the truth is, it's a fascinating story. It's just a shame that he's damaged it by this ridiculous version. He's let himself down. One last little area of this to talk about is he claims that it was a row over whether the two boys should walk behind Diana's coffin as it processed through the streets of London that led to Charles's alleged outburst. I think Harry was 12 at the time. I must admit, watching it on television at the time, I think it was quite hard to watch. It was very emotional. But at the time as well, we knew straight away it was Prince Philip who persuaded them to do it by saying, if you walk, I'll walk with you. We'll all walk together. And that is what they did over dinner. My impeccable source who was witnessing it all said, that is what turned it. The idea that Spencer had any influence on it is nonsense. Can I just say, Nigel, Tom's absolutely right. Prince Philip himself walked behind his sister's coffin in 1937. He was only 16 at the time. And Prince Edward, Duke of Gloucester, was only 16 when he walked behind the King's coffin in 1952. It's something the royals have done. They genuinely felt that the boys would later be able to feel they were part of it rather than have been locked away or taken to a... Michael, this is a case where I can say, I'm actually with Nigel on this. I agree with Nigel. There was something, it may be tradition, but sometimes you should bend tradition for younger people. And so I have a lot of sympathy for what you said, Nigel. I just thought 12 was too young. That was my feeling on it. 16, yeah, look, an impossibly hard, very difficult thing for anyone to do under any circumstances. That was just my own feeling. But 12, I found it uncomfortable. Watching it was my own thing. Final thoughts on this, Tom. So this runs and runs and runs, as you say. Lots and loads more stories to come out over the next week, two weeks, whatever it is. He sells his book around the world and the King, you believe, really does get damaged by this. Oh, the King gets damaged and we've still got the problem of Harry and Meghan, what are they, all the trouble they're going to cause. We've got the Andrew problem too. So the monarchy is in some sort of crisis and it's going to get worse. And I think it's rather good that the King has now got a good advisor, the Lord Chamberlain next to him. He's going to need more advisors and he's going to have to react faster than he's been used to in the past. And be more confrontational, which is what happened today. Which they were last night. Which they were, and that was good. And he's got to stand up for the monarchy and stand up for Britain.