UK politician sides with King Charles after Diana’s brother targets monarch

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, has chosen her side in a row involving King Charles and the brother of the late Princess Diana.

Spence’s explosive claims made in his new book about the king’s reaction to his former wife’s death has divided people in Britain.

Buckingham Palace also issued a rare statement, dismissing Charles Spencer’s claims.

Commenting on the issue, Kemi Badenoch told BBC, "I have a side and it's always on the side of His Majesty."

Badenoch said: "I would reiterate exactly what it was that the King himself had said or certainly Buckingham Palace said on his behalf."

King Charles took the unusual step on Wednesday of responding to criticism by the brother of his late first wife Diana, saying via a spokesperson that grief could impact ‌reason, judgment and memory.

The assertions, made in a soon-to-be published book, relate to the now-monarch's conduct in the days after Diana's death in 1997.

Diana was killed at the age of 36 when the car carrying her and her lover Dodi al-Fayed crashed in Paris as ⁠it sped away from chasing paparazzi photographers on motorbikes.

Her brother, Charles Spencer, alleges in a soon-to-be-published memoir that the then-Prince Charles told him "rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough.”

The reported comments were made in an argument over whether Diana and Charles' children, princes William and Harry, should walk behind her coffin during her funeral, something Spencer objected to.

Asked about the report, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: "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."