Charles Spencer’s upcoming memoir about Princess Diana became the focus of a police investigation after several copies were reportedly stolen days before publication. Four copies of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister were taken from a lorry in the Netherlands after the driver stopped overnight, according to Hello Magazine. The break-in was discovered the next morning, with only a small number of books said to be missing. The 62-year-old writer had recently described the project as his most personal work to date, adding extra weight to the incident.
Charles Spencer Calls Swan Song His Most Personal Book
Announced in August, the memoir is Charles Spencer’s first full-length account centered on his sister and their shared history. It also revisits the week of Diana’s death in Paris in 1997, when she was 36. In the book announcement, he explained why he decided to put his memories on the page after years of public discussion around her life. "The aim of this book is to tell the truth about Diana from her brother's perspective, just as I attempted to do when speaking at her funeral," he said.
Instagram Post Marked First Finished Copy
Just days before news of the theft emerged, Charles shared a photo of the completed book on Instagram and wrote about the moment of finally holding it in his hands. "Always an amazing, and exhilarating, moment for an author to hold the first physical copy of a new book — and even more so for me with Swan Song, the most personal of the ten books I've written over the past three decades," Charles wrote. He added that the memoir was, at heart, a brother’s tribute to an extraordinary sister.
Princess Diana Memories Shaped the New Memoir
The book draws on a bond formed early in childhood. With their older sisters away at boarding school for long stretches, Charles and Diana spent much of their younger years together during a difficult period in their parents’ marriage. That closeness remained central to how he remembered her after her death. In a 2017 interview, he spoke about the pain of losing her and the instinct he still carried. "You always think, God, I wish I could've protected her. It was just ... it was devastating," Charles told People Magazine.
Charles Spencer Sets 22 September Release Date
The memoir is scheduled for release on 22 September through Penguin Michael Joseph in the UK and Penguin Press in the US and Canada. The publisher has also lined up translations in 12 languages, along with hardcover, ebook and audiobook editions. Charles recorded the audiobook himself over three days, giving the project another personal layer. After finishing that process, he reflected on the result in deeply personal terms and said he felt certain about the tribute he had completed for his sister and her memory.
