Prince William and Kate Announce Isle of Bute Visit as New Diana Claim Puts King Charles Under Scrutiny

Prince William and Kate Middleton are preparing for a significant visit to Scotland as a new controversy surrounding King Charles and Princess Diana draws attention to the royal family.

The Prince and Princess of Wales are due to visit the Isle of Bute on Thursday, marking their first official visit to the island.

During the trip, William and Kate will spend time in the town of Rothesay. When carrying out official engagements in Scotland, the couple are known by their Scottish titles, the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.

William and Kate set for first official visit to Bute

The visit will give William and Kate an opportunity to meet residents and learn more about community efforts on the island.

The couple are expected to spend time with people involved in projects aimed at protecting and preserving Bute’s natural environment.

They will also visit Bute Shinty Club in Rothesay, where the traditional Scottish sport has been played for generations.

During their engagement at the club, William and Kate are expected to meet representatives from both the senior and youth teams. They will then meet volunteers and former players at the clubhouse.

The visit follows the couple’s trip last year to the Inner Hebridean islands of Iona and Mull, where they carried out official engagements.

William and Kate were also recently at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, where they joined King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Their upcoming appearance in Scotland comes as renewed attention falls on an alleged conversation between King Charles and Princess Diana’s brother following Diana’s death in 1997.

New claims about King Charles and Princess Diana

The controversy centers on an account from Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, who has made a new claim about a telephone conversation he says he had with the then-Prince Charles after Diana died in a Paris car crash.

A first preview of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, published by the Daily Mail on Wednesday, September 16, claims Spencer described what he regarded as Charles’s “pent-up contempt” toward Diana following her death.

According to the account, Spencer said Charles expressed anger that the public response to Diana’s death had been so overwhelming.

Spencer recalled the alleged exchange in stark terms.

“He unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death,” Spencer claimed.

He then recalled Charles allegedly telling him:

“Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!”

Spencer said he was too stunned by the comment to respond immediately.

“I can’t believe you just said that,” he recalled telling Charles before ending the call.

The account remains a claim attributed to Spencer and concerns a private conversation alleged to have taken place more than two decades ago.

The conversation reportedly concerned William and Harry’s funeral role

According to Spencer’s recollection, the telephone call took place while he and the then-Prince Charles were discussing an important decision surrounding Diana’s funeral.

At the time, attention was focused on whether her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, would walk behind their mother’s coffin during the funeral procession.

William was 15 and Harry was 12 when Diana died in 1997.

The alleged conversation therefore came during a particularly difficult period for the Spencer family and the wider royal family, as arrangements were being made for Diana’s funeral.

William and Kate’s forthcoming visit to the Isle of Bute is an entirely separate royal engagement, but it comes at a moment when the new claims have once again placed Diana’s legacy and her relationship with the royal family in the spotlight.