Kemi Badenoch declares 'I'm always on the side of His Majesty' amid Earl Spencer row
Kemi Badenoch has weighed in on the fallout between King Charles and Earl Spencer, following an explosive memoir due to be released next week.
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, currently being serialised in the Daily Mail, has levelled a series of astonishing claims towards the King in the lead-up to and aftermath of Princess Diana's death.
Some of those include the monarch allegedly telling Earl Spencer just days after the late Princess of Wales' tragic car accident: "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough."
The King is also claimed to have been left "giddily elated" upon hearing of her death, while on the eve of his wedding to Diana, the future King is said to have told her "he was very happy to marry her, but he was not actually in love with her."
It has left the public decidedly split over the legitimacy of the Earl's claims.
According to a recent YouGov study of 4,833 Britons, 36 per cent feel the accusations are probably or definitely not true, while 31 per cent think the statements are at least probably true, and 33 per cent are unsure.
Now, the leader of the Conservative Party has had her say in the debacle.
"I have a side and it's always on the side of His Majesty," Ms Badenoch told the BBC yesterday.
The accusations have so far caused a major stir in royal circles, with Buckingham Palace releasing a rare but fiery response on Wednesday evening.
"While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss," a spokesman told GB News.
Directly addressing the Palace's response, Ms Badenoch said: "I would reiterate exactly what it was that the King himself had said or certainly Buckingham Palace said on his behalf."
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Earl Spencer, who has faced some backlash after a clip resurfaced from 1997 in which he said "nothing nasty has ever been said", defended his claims in a recent interview with the BBC.
He insisted he was "telling the truth" on what he called Charles' "monstrous" comments.
In response to claims that the King was "furious" with the claims, he asked: "Is he furious? Or is he embarrassed?
"I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said."
And when questioned about his thoughts on the Palace's response, he said: "They've sort of smudged that one, haven't they? They've said that recollections may vary."
But ex-royal correspondent Charles Rae told GB News on Saturday that he was "shocked and astonished" by the claims made by Earl Spencer.
"The then-Prince of Wales was grief-stricken and devastated [following Diana's death], and I would be utterly, utterly shocked and surprised if he said anything at all like the allegations that he has made, about the mother of his two sons," Mr Rae noted.
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