Amid days of shocking royal revelations this week, one of the people most affected by it all appears – publicly at least – to simply be getting on with the day job.

As yet more explosive claims emerged on Thursday (British time) about the death of Princess Diana, her eldest son was in Scotland with his wife.

Prince William gave no sign that anything was amiss, The Telegraph reports, as he and Kate played sport, picked up rubbish and interacted charmingly with local children.

But the Prince of Wales’ brave face shouldn’t be mistaken for indifference to the claims revealed this week in an upcoming book by his uncle, Charles Spencer.

“The prince has come to terms with his mother’s death in his own time and his own way. He thinks of her constantly, and talks to his children about ‘granny Diana’,” Telegraph royal editor Hannah Furness wrote in a column headlined “Amid the royal drama, spare a thought for Diana’s silent son”.

“But he, more than [brother Prince Harry], has reconciled ‘that’ walk behind the coffin: He does not think they should have done it, but understands how it happened.

“He has made it clear, over the years, that he does not welcome new accounts of his mother’s life, particularly if they revisit old and painful ground.”

Furness writes that Harry has “worn his heart on his sleeve over the years”, while William – now heir to the throne – has generally been quieter.

“Not quite fully signed up to ‘never complain, never explain’, he does try to resist the urge when it comes to family matters,” Furness wrote.

The book will be released next week.

Spencer’s book claimed this week that he and the then-Prince Charles argued about whether William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, should walk behind their mother’s coffin. He alleges the now-King at one point said “we’ll forget her soon enough”.

On Thursday came even more damaging allegations, that Charles had sounded “giddily elated” on the night Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997.

“Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated — like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time,” one passage from Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, serialised in the Daily Mail, reads.

“Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not.”

Spencer writes that Diana had contemplated suicide more than once, prevented only by “her love for her sons”. He accuses her ex-husband of contributing to Diana’s eating disorder, by revealing he called her “chubby”, and writes that the princess told a friend that Charles told her he did not love her, but was happy to marry her.

After the first extract on Wednesday, Buckingham Palace hit back in a rare statement, saying “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.

“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,” a palace spokesman said.

The King has had several public engagements this week, most notably on Thursday a meeting with technology bosses in Scotland. Prince Harry also emerged on Thursday for an outing described as his first “public engagement” since he returned to Britain.

Neither would engage on the revelations from Spencer’s book.

“It’s good to be back on British soil,” was all Harry – dressed in black tie and his military medals – said as he posed for photographs at an Invictus event in London.

Another royal editor, The Mirror‘s Russell Myers, warned that Spencer’s book would “plunge [a] dagger into William and Harry’s hearts”.

“The devastating manner in which Diana, Princess of Wales was tragically killed, opened wounds for her loved ones that will never heal,” he wrote.

“For her two sons, just 15 and 12 at the time their mother was cruelly and catastrophically taken from them, it has shaped almost every facet of their life since then.”

Harry spent part of the British summer at his uncle’s estate with his wife and children. He reportedly knew the book was coming, although not what was in it.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, however, apparently learned of book as the same time as the public did. When Thursday’s revelations came, they were returning home to Windsor after their day out in Scotland.

But they remain at the centre of yet another royal storm.

“The silent son, destined to be king, has shouldered it all,” Furness wrote.

“His father was diagnosed with cancer, followed by his wife’s diagnosis, leaving him fearing an uncertain future.

“His younger brother left the UK, leaving a trail of accusations in his wake.

“His three young children, George, Charlotte and Louis, have needed him.

“In 2024, he said he had been through ‘probably the hardest year of my life’.”

Yet there is likely to be no public comment from William, nor anyone close to him.

“There will be no briefing, no quoting, no engagement: First on the circus of the Sussexes’ return to Britain, and now this,” Furness wrote.

“It was, in other words, ‘keep calm and carry on’ – again.”

Furness said those close to William believed it was all he could do.

“The burden of monarchy will one day rest on him, and he needs to focus on work and his own family in order to face it,” she wrote.

” ‘His focus is on duty and service,’ palace sources have repeated countless times in recent years.”