Copies of Earl Spencer’s upcoming memoir about Princess Diana were stolen from a parked lorry in the Netherlands this week, prompting a police investigation. The book, detailing Diana’s life and the royal crisis following her 1997 death, is set for international release next Tuesday amid tight security.
The Lorry Break-In and Dutch Police Investigation
Thousands of copies of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister were packed into a truck that left a printing plant in central Europe on Monday on its way to a warehouse in the Netherlands before copies were distributed to Dutch bookshops. At some point that evening, the driver parked in a lay-by deep in the Dutch countryside to sleep. At around 8 a.m., the driver discovered that the vehicle had been broken into, according to reporting by the Daily Mail. Despite the cargo being wrapped in black plastic to hide their contents, thieves made off with just four copies out of the thousands packed into the vehicle. Dutch police are investigating the mysterious break-in. Publishing industry insiders have offered various theories regarding the motive behind the theft, ranging from a gang of opportunistic thieves to a misguided, but highly informed, supporter of the Royal Family.
It’s extremely suspicious. Nothing like this has ever happened before. This is probably the biggest book of the year and the security surrounding it has been incredibly tight.
Publishing industry insider, via Daily Mail
Security measures around the publication had been exceptionally rigorous. Typically, advance copies of books are released to members of the media, bloggers and influencers, but Swan Song has been kept tightly under wraps. Every possible precaution has been taken to prevent it from being leaked ahead of its serialisation, and therefore this unprecedented incident is being taken extremely seriously.
Revelations in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister
Written by Charles Spencer, the memoir is described as ‘historic’ and ‘extraordinarily moving’, providing a deeply personal account of his relationship with his older sibling and of her deeply unhappy marriage with the then Prince of Wales. Just a month ago, the Earl announced that he was releasing the book to to tell the truth about Diana from her brother’s perspective.
The book also provides unprecedented insight into the seismic week following Diana’s death in a car crash in August 1997, during which the House of Windsor was engulfed by a global wave of public grief and anger. Buckingham Palace is understood to be braced for a string of shocking revelations that threaten to reopen the wounds of the former Prince and Princess of Wales’s highly acrimonious split and eventual divorce.
Earl Spencer has kept his silence for nearly 30 years and what he has to say about the King’s reaction when Diana died is utterly devastating.
Publishing insider, via Daily Mail
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of his sister’s death, the 62-year-old author has vowed that his book will correct ‘untruths’ that have been told about his sister. The memoir is scheduled for worldwide publication next Tuesday—in the UK by Penguin Michael Joseph, a division of Penguin Random House—and will be translated into 12 languages before the memoir is available in bookshops. The Daily Mail is publishing an exclusive serialisation. The Earl previously delivered a raw and defiant eulogy during Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, which was broadcast to a worldwide audience of 2.5billion.
Audiobook Completion and Prior Publishing Security Breaches
It would not be the first time that a major book has been stolen just before publication. In 2003, a lorry with more than 7,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth in the fantasy series, was stolen from a warehouse on Merseyside. Earl Spencer recently completed recording the audiobook edition for the memoir. In an Instagram post, he shared that he had recently completed recording the audiobook, reflecting that the finished project matched his intentions.
That is exactly what I wanted and needed to say – and she would, I reckon, have approved of every word.
Earl Spencer, author
Dutch authorities continue to examine the lay-by break-in as international distribution proceeds toward next week’s release date.
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