- Food fight - 18th September 2026
- More check, check, check - 17th September 2026
- Crime pays unfortunately, part one - 17th September 2026
During 43 years in journalism, (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), it was always drilled into the head of our Editor Welshman Phil Parry, to check at least three times, to ensure a recollection is correct, and this is now underlined by a bombshell allegation from Diana’s brother, with Buckingham Palace responding that the “Pain of fraternal grief can…colour memory”.
When I started in journalism in 1983, a mantra was drilled into me by the instructors: “Check, check, check…”
This, of course, means that everything you publish must be triple checked to ensure it is accurate.
It is conceivable that this is emphasised by Earl Spencer’s shock allegation about (now) KING Charles soon after the death of his former wife Diana, Princess of Wales.
The Earl claimed in a new book on his sister, ‘Swan Song’, to be released next week, that a Palace aide had told him that Charles had proclaimed: “we’ll forget her (Diana) soon enough”.
An extract from his memoir was published in the Daily Mail yesterday.
In the extract, Earl Spencer said the then-Prince of Wales subjected him to a “stream of anger” after he insisted Diana would not have wanted her sons Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk behind her coffin during the funeral procession.
In ‘Swan Song: Diana, My Sister’, the earl said he was told by a palace aide that the late princess’ sons would walk behind her coffin, however, Earl Spencer objected to the move and claimed he received a phone call from Charles soon afterwards.
The comments may or may not be a correct recollection, but clearly Buckingham Palace was unhappy, and took the rare step of issuing a public statement.
It declared: “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”.
Whatever the truth is at the heart of this difficult issue, it is obvious that these things need to be verified (which may or may not have been done), because they can cause a tremendous stink!
Check, check, check!
‘Swan Song: Diana My Sister’ will be published on Tuesday in the UK, ahead of the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in Paris, next year.
Some of the stories Phil has covered over the years (when sources were always checked), as he was gripped by the rare neurological condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a a different kind of book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
Tomorrow – as he has written many times a free and independent media is essential in a society, although this does not exist in many states around the world, and this is now put centre stage by another food scandal emerging in China, where a cancer-causing chemical was used to wash cabbages.
