Swan Song

First published 2026 · debut

Cover of Swan Song

Reception

  1. 2026
    The New York Times

    Reviewed, 22 September

  2. 2026
    The Guardian

    Reviewed, 22 September

  3. 2026
    Financial Times

    Reviewed, 25 September

Read the 3 reviews

About the book

Read the full description

Beautiful. Beloved. Hunted. The extraordinary life and death of Diana, as told by her brother, Charles.

“When asked, ‘What was it like, growing up with Diana?’, my first thought is always, But I don’t know what it was like not to grow up with her…”

In September 1997, Charles Spencer stood in Westminster Abbey before a watching world and shared his grief at losing his beloved sister, Diana. Now, nearly thirty years later, he tells the astonishing story of his life with Diana and the tragic week of her death.

In childhood, Charles and Diana, the youngest Spencers, were inseparable – secretly calling one another Duch and Carlos. As each other’s closest confidantes, they roamed the family estate, endured extremely challenging boarding schools, survived terrifying nannies, and helped each other through the agony of their parents’ divorce.

Yet everything changed when Diana married the Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, and overnight became a global icon. Charles saw his older sister serve the world’s marginalized and relish being mother to her treasured sons.

But, pursued by a barbaric press as her royal marriage crumbled, she was left desperately alone. Charles always tried to be there for Diana – until that black night in August, 1997.

In Swan Song, Charles Spencer provides the most intimate, loving, and honest portrait yet of his sister.

Description from Open Library

Catalogue record

Penguin Press · 384 pages

Publisher
Penguin Press
Pages
384
ISBN
979-8-217-37974-3
Full recordClose
Publisher
Penguin Press
Pages
384
ISBN
  • 979-8-217-37974-3
Author
Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer
Statement
Swan Song / Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer.
Records
Open Library

Subjects

  • Memoirs
  • Biography Memoir
  • Royalty
  • Great Britain
  • London (England)
  • Diana Princess of Wales (1961-1997)