Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, claims she believed King Charles was 'in love' with one of his staff members when she told him about her decision to divorce.
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Add BollywoodShaadis on GoogleWhen Princess Diana said, "There were three people in the marriage," with a sad smirk in her 1995 interview, the remark became one of her most memorable comments about the breakdown of her marriage to then-Prince Charles.
The statement was widely understood as a reference to his relationship with Camilla, now Queen Camilla. But a new claim in Diana's brother Charles Spencer's upcoming memoir has brought fresh attention to the remark and the questions surrounding her marriage. In Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Spencer recalls Diana allegedly telling him that Charles was "in love with his valet" as she revealed her plans to divorce him.
The recollection has prompted renewed curiosity about what Diana may have believed about her husband's relationships. However, Spencer's account does not establish that the valet allegation was true, nor does it show that Diana was referring to the same person or situation in her famous interview.
In an excerpt from his upcoming memoir, Earl Charles Spencer recalls a lunch with Diana at London restaurant San Lorenzo, where she told him she intended to end her marriage. According to Spencer, the conversation took an unexpected turn when Diana explained why she felt she had no choice. The siblings often referred to each other by their nicknames, with Diana's being 'Duch' and Spencer's being 'Carlos.'
Diana allegedly told her brother, "Carlos, I'm going to get divorced," to which Spencer was taken aback. He said he offered his support but warned that the public might blame her for ending the royal fairytale they believed in. Diana then reportedly responded with her startling revelation.
Spencer wrote, "She looked up at me, nodded, and said quietly: 'But, Carlos, my husband is in love with his valet.'" Recalling his own reaction to the revelation, Charles wrote, "I gulped. Well, I guess, in that case, you really don't have a choice."
He also wrote that Diana did not name the staff member and that he never asked who she meant. He recalled, "It was not important: the end of her marriage, and of her dreams, was." While these new claims have no additional proof except for Spencer's account, he has also emphasized that he is only recording his sister's feelings and perspective, rather than claiming to know whether her belief was accurate.
Charles and Diana married in 1981 and finalized their divorce in 1996. Charles later married Camilla in 2005. Her 1995 BBC Panorama interview was one of her final interviews before the divorce, where Diana spoke candidly about the difficulties in her marriage to Charles. Upon being asked about the state of their relationship, she said:
"There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
The comment was widely interpreted as referring to Charles' relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he later married in 2005. Diana's remark became a defining moment in the public account of the royal couple's troubled marriage. However, Spencer's new recollection introduces a separate claim about what Diana reportedly told him privately.
The timing of the reported private conversation has led to renewed interest in Diana's famous "crowded marriage" remark. In the interview, Diana's comment was widely understood as referring to Charles' relationship with Camilla. Earl Spencer's memoir, meanwhile, attributes a separate statement about a valet to Diana during a conversation about divorce.
Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Spencer's upcoming memoir revisits his memories of his sister and her marriage, including the private conversation he says they had before the divorce. The memoir, however, does not indicate that the valet allegation was what she meant during the Panorama interview.
Charles Spencer's memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, is coming out on September 22, 2026.
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