Whenever you’re doing a media interview it’s vital to come across as a credible, believable truth-teller.
If you don’t manage this well, the impact of whatever you have to say can be fatally undermined.
One man who is having his credibility questioned before the eyes of the world is the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
He’s Earl (Charles) Spencer – who has made a series of shocking revelations which are potentially highly damaging to the British Royal Family.
The revelations are mainly about Charles III – King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and so much more (including Australia!).
The revelations are in Earl Spencer’s new book – Swan Song – about his beloved sister and her ongoing legacy – which is gaining massive publicity through being serialised in The Daily Mail.
Amongst the most shocking claims are two things Charles Spencer says about King Charles – while he was still Prince of Wales – in a phone call just after Princess Diana’s death in 1977.
Earl Spencer alleges that Prince Charles sounded “giddily elated, like a lottery winner” – suggesting that he was thinking it would make it easier for him to marry the woman who became Queen Camilla.
And he claims that at one point Prince Charles said of Princess Diana: “Rest assured we’ll forget about her soon enough”.
Such claims have provided The Daily Mail with abundant headline material.
And the Earl’s claims have been spread further by other newspapers.
Buckingham Palace has not explicitly denied Charles Spencer’s most shocking claims.
But it has issued a statement on behalf of King Charles, clearly seeking to sow doubts about the Earl’s credibility.
A statement attributed to 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.”
In order to defend his credibility, Charles Spencer has put himself forward to be interviewed by one of the BBC’s most probing journalists, Laura Kuenssberg.
There are important things to learn from how Earl Spencer has sought to manage the credibility challenges…
To his credit, in the interview Charles Spencer comes across in a way that’s impressively calm, considered and controlled.
One of his biggest challenges is to maintain his credibility while speaking about what were clearly tense telephone conversations he had with Prince Charles back in 1977 – just after news came through about the death of Princess Diana.
Admittedly Earl Spencer had been suddenly grief-stricken at the time – so it’s understandable that he had many strong emotions playing out.
He says in the BBC interview that he did not write down the key words he says were spoken by the now king – “Rest assured, we’ll forget about her soon enough” – at the time.
Had he done so he would have been better able to support his claim.
But the Earl does say he told close friends and family members soon afterwards “because it was so monstrous”.
He would put himself in a potentially stronger position if he named one or a few of them so they could potentially confirm hearing what he said.
Earl Spencer does say the words he attributes to Prince Charles will not come as a surprise to Prince William and Prince Harry – though getting any confirmation from them might involve challenges.
However, there is one thing Earl Spencer says which is powerfully credible.
He points out that you can see evidence of the phone conversations with Prince Charles within the final part of his famous eulogy for his sister in Westminster Abbey.
Earl Spencer highlights what he said towards the very end of his Princess Diana eulogy.
It’s his words about Princess Diana’s qualities which he says “will never be extinguished from our minds”.
Charles Spencer says this was included as a direct rebuttal of Prince Charles’s telephone claim that “Rest assured, we’ll forget about her soon enough”.
Within the interview programme, the BBC then helpfully plays the last part of the eulogy which is in line with what Earl Spencer is putting forward.
You can watch the entire BBC interview – including the key obituary excerpt – at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU1OLb6kYFQ
One of the key reasons for undergoing media interview response training sessions is to help clients come across in a way that’s credible.
Clients get assessments – and recommended improvement points – as they go through a series of test-out interviews and playbacks.
These assessments and improvement points concern the content of what participants are saying, the way they structure what they say – and the way they look, sound and feel when they’re being recorded.
Check out details of media interview response training sessions at:
https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/media-master-classes/
Unless you say something profoundly newsworthy – within the training sessions and when you do your media interviews for real – you probably won’t be subjected to quite the scrutiny that Earl Spencer is currently getting.
But it’s better to put yourself on the safe side!