Princess Anne’s Blunt Six Word Reply Left Charles Spencer Red Faced Before Diana’s Wedding
Princess Anne left Charles Spencer red faced with a remarkably blunt response at a royal dinner just two days before Princess Diana’s wedding, according to a memorable encounter the Earl has now revisited in his new memoir.
Spencer, who was only 17 at the time, recalled unexpectedly finding himself seated beside the Princess Royal during a dinner attended by members of the Royal Family and other prominent guests.
The encounter has resurfaced as Spencer’s newly released Swan Song: Diana, My Sister continues to generate headlines and renewed scrutiny of his recollections about Diana and the Royal Family.
Much of the controversy surrounding the memoir has centred on King Charles, with Buckingham Palace taking the unusual step of publicly challenging Spencer’s account of a conversation following Diana’s death.
However, Spencer’s book also contains recollections involving other royals, including an awkward exchange with Anne shortly before Diana married the then-Prince Charles in 1981.
According to the Earl, Anne had recently attended the christening of her daughter Zara, giving the teenage Spencer what he believed would be an easy and pleasant subject for conversation.
“It transpired, to my alarm, that I was actually placed next to Anne, and when she turned my way, I asked, ‘And how did your daughter’s christening go today, Ma’am?’” Spencer wrote.
He apparently expected the Princess Royal to speak warmly about the family occasion and believed the question would provide a straightforward way of starting a conversation.
Instead, Spencer recalled receiving a response he had not anticipated. “She stopped, looked at me witheringly, and asked, ‘Tell me, how’s a christening supposed to go?’”
The Earl said the reply immediately left him blushing and without an answer, turning what he had intended as polite small talk into a moment he would still remember decades later.
Spencer contrasted his experience with that of his brother-in-law Neil, whom he remembered having an easy conversation with the Crown Princess of Japan about rice cultivation during the same dinner.
Reflecting on the contrast, Spencer wrote that it was “the luck of the draw that night” whether someone found themselves beside a royal who, in his view, made them feel uncomfortable or one willing to search for common ground.
He went further in describing the encounter, claiming guests could be placed beside someone “happy to make you feel small, or one that had the grace and manners to look for common ground, wherever it might be found.”
The account represents Spencer’s recollection and interpretation of a conversation from more than four decades ago, and there is no indication Anne has responded to it. Still, the story offers another glimpse into the Earl’s complicated memories of royal life, while also reflecting the direct, formal manner for which the Princess Royal has long been publicly known.
