Did Princess Diana’s brother criticize Queen Camilla in royal gala speech?

In July 2026, a video claimed that Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, delivered scathing criticism of Queen Camilla at a royal gala, renewing tension with the British royal family that has existed since his sister’s death in 1997.

The claim spread primarily on YouTube (archived), Facebook and TikTok (archived). Snopes readers also reached out to us to learn whether the claim was true.

According to the video’s caption on YouTube:

A dramatic scene unfolds at a royal gala when Charles Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, defies the palace’s expectations by revealing legally protected archives of Diana’s personal writings during his speech. While the palace had aimed for a narrative of unity and healing, leveraging Diana’s legacy for Queen Camilla, Spencer’s announcement, supported by Prince William, shatters that carefully crafted image. As he declares the transfer of Diana’s diaries to a new trust overseen by her sons, the room erupts in chaos, exposing the palace’s failed control over Diana’s story and transforming a regal event into a powerful reclamation of Diana’s voice and legacy.

A voice-over in the video states:

So Charles Spencer walks into a room full of royals wearing a Savile Road tuxedo and carrying a folded piece of blue paper that nobody approved and within about 15 minutes the entire carefully constructed narrative around Queen Camila just collapsed on live television. 

And the thing is the palace handed him the podium. They literally invited him to speak, wrote a speech for him, loaded it into the teleprompters and assumed he would just read it because that’s what aristocrats do at galas. They smile. They make polite remarks about legacy and unity. And they go home. 

But Charles Spencer is not just any aristocrat. He’s the brother who stood in Westminster Abbey and delivered that eulogy. He’s the one who refused to let the palace control how Diana’s sons mourned their mother. And apparently, he’s also the one who spent 6 months working with lawyers to create a legal structure so airtight that not even the king could touch it. 

So when he stepped up to that podium at the Victorian & Albert Museum, he wasn’t there to surrender anything. He was there to detonate something. And before we get into exactly how this all fell apart, real quick, if you enjoy breaking down royal drama … hit subscribe to Crown Watch.

The above video is a classic example of “slop” — low-quality content generated partially by artificial intelligence. We found no evidence of Spencer attending such a royal gala recently, nor of Camilla collapsing on live television. As such, we rate the above claim as false.  

All examples of the claim have a number of suspicious features. First, there is no available footage of Spencer making such a speech at a royal gala. The YouTube video for example, primarily relies on old footage of Spencer, Diana, Camilla and King Charles III. There is also no footage of Camilla collapsing on television. If this event had actually taken place, it would be widely reported in the media.

We also searched Google, Bing (archived), and DuckDuckGo (archived) for examples of Spencer and the royal family at a recent gala at the Victoria & Albert Museum, as well as any speeches that may have been made. There is no news coverage of the alleged incident from reputable sources.  

Some of the earliest examples of the claim appeared on YouTube channels Crown Watch and The Windsor Whispers. Both examples had disclaimers The caption under the Crown Watch video read:

All content featured on Crown Watch is created for entertainment and discussion purposes only. Our videos may include a mix of public information, media reports, opinions, rumors, and speculation. Nothing presented should be taken as confirmed fact or absolute truth. Viewer discretion and independent judgment are advised.

The disclaimer under The Windsor Whispers video read:

Content might be gossip, rumors, exaggerated or indirectly besides the truth. Viewer advised to do own research before forming their opinion. Content might be opinionated.

The audio in the above videos also appear to be AI-generated. An AI audio detection tool indicated a high likelihood that the audio in the videos was produced with generative tools. (Such tools are imperfect, and their results should be taken with caution.)

While the rumor about Spencer criticizing the queen in 2026 was fictional, he has previously appeared to rebuke the royal family. In 1997, he delivered Diana’s eulogy, in which he reportedly angered the royal family with some lines that were interpreted as criticisms of their treatment of his sister.

For further reading, Snopes has covered numerous examples of AI slop, as well as rumors about Camilla.