Piers Morgan doubles down on vow to sue Earl Spencer over ‘defamatory lies' in Diana book
Piers Morgan has doubled down with his vow to sue Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer accusing him of ‘fabricated inaccuracies’ and ‘bulls***’ in his new book.
Spencer’s book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, was published yesterday (22 September) with the earl saying he wrote it to correct some ‘untruths’ about his late sister, who tragically died in August 1997.
However, just hours after its release Spencer issued an apology due to an error in the book relating to where Morgan was working during the early 1990s.
In his book, Spencer suggested that Morgan published images of Diana working out in a leotard that had been taken with a hidden camera in the Daily Mirror newspaper in 1993.
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But Morgan was still working at The Sun in 1993 and didn’t join the Daily Mirror until two years later.
Spencer also claimed that Morgan ‘snarled with annoyance’ when he was told that he wasn’t invited to Diana’s funeral.
Morgan hit out at the claims on his YouTube show Piers Morgan Uncensored.
“It’s all bulls*** and very, very easy bulls*** for me to prove it,” he said.
“The photographs which he says that I published were printed by the Sunday Mirror on November 7 1993. I joined the Daily Mirror in October in 1995.
“In fact, at the time of the gym pictures, I was doing a showbiz column on the Mirror’s arch-rival, The Sun. About as far removed from responsibility for the Mirror scoop as I could possibly have been.”
He also threatened to launch legal action against the book and has demanded that it be pulped.
In response, Spencer issued an apology for the error surrounding where Morgan was working but insisted other claims made were ‘accurate’.
The statement read: "Earl Spencer's account of his conversation with Piers Morgan is accurate.
"Mr Morgan was surly and annoyed when Earl Spencer called personally to tell him that he was not welcome at his sister's funeral.
"The book then records Earl Spencer's assumption that Mr Morgan's response was because he was editor of the Daily Mirror when the Mirror Group had published highly intrusive photographs of Princess Diana at the gym.
"The photographs were published by the Sunday Mirror on 7 November 1993.
"Mr Morgan has pointed out that he did not join the Daily Mirror until October 1995.
"As an historian, accuracy is important to Earl Spencer.
"He therefore wishes to clarify that his assumption was incorrect. Earl Spencer apologises to Mr Morgan for this error."
Despite the apology, Morgan has said he’s dead set on following up with legal action.
In a post on X he said: "Earl Spencer has apologised to me for his defamatory lies published in his new book, Swan Song, published today.
"But I am pursuing legal action against him and his publisher Penguin to have the lies removed, and damages paid to the King's Trust."
Speaking to Sky News yesterday evening, he said the book should be withdrawn following the apology.
"They have published something which they have admitted is completely untrue, and which he has issued a public apology for,” he said.
“So now they should withdraw the book."
The book has made a series of bombshell claims, including an allegation that then-Prince Charles told Spencer that Diana would be ‘forgotten soon enough’ and that he sounded ‘giddily elated’ just days after her death.
In an unusual move, Buckingham Palace issued a statement refuting the claims in the memoir.
A spokesperson for the Palace 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."
Topics: Royal Family, Piers Morgan, UK News, King Charles III
Claire Reid