Earl
Spencer apologises over Diana book error but Piers Morgan still vows to sue
By Laura
Elston, Press Association Court Correspondent
22/09/2026
Piers
Morgan has vowed to press ahead with suing Earl Spencer despite the author
apologising over an error in his controversial memoir about Diana, Princess of
Wales.
Charles
Spencer has made a raft of claims in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which was
published on Tuesday, including that the King said “we’ll forget her soon
enough” after she died and sounded “giddily elated” in the wake of the fatal
car crash.
Piers
Morgan has said he will sue Earl Spencer over “fabricated inaccuracies” and
“examples of brazen falsity” in his book about his late sister Diana, Princess
of Wales, as the publication hits shelves.
The earl
also suggested Mr Morgan was responsible for publishing photographs, taken with
hidden cameras, of Diana in a leotard working out at the gym, in the Daily
Mirror newspaper in 1993.
But Mr
Morgan was working at The Sun at the time, and did not join the Mirror as its
editor until 1995.
The earl
apologised and said, as a historian, “accuracy was important to him”, but he
stood by his account that Mr Morgan was “surly and annoyed” when he called the
journalist to tell him he was not welcome at Diana’s funeral.
But Mr
Morgan doubled down on his threat of legal action, writing on social media:
“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.”
He also
insisted he was “neither surly nor annoyed” but had been “very respectful” to
the earl during their telephone conversation.
Mr Morgan
wrote: “Earl Spencer’s account of our phone call is also deeply misleading.
“I was
neither surly nor annoyed, but instead, very respectful to him and his family,
as I wrote in my diaries, The Insider. It would seem that Spencer’s
recollection of phone calls is very suspect.”
The
statement on behalf of Charles Spencer 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 November 7 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.”
The
then-Mirror editor Piers Morgan with the then-Prince of Wales at a Buckingham
Palace reception for Charles' 50th birthday in 1998
The
then-Mirror editor Piers Morgan with the then-Prince of Wales at a Buckingham
Palace reception for Charles’ 50th birthday in 1998 (John Stillwell/PA)
Mr Morgan
had earlier criticised the earl for “fabricated inaccuracies” and “examples of
brazen falsity”.
Speaking
on his YouTube show Piers Morgan Uncensored, he added: “It’s all bullshit and
very, very easy bullshit for me to prove it.
“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.”
Morgan
was the editor of the Mirror from 1995 to 2004.
He
continued: “Earl Spencer was estranged from Diana and living in South Africa at
the time of her death.
“As
editor of the Daily Mirror, I had lunch with her at Kensington Palace with
Prince William. After that, it wasn’t uncommon for her to call my office or for
me to run stories by her… Ironically, by that time in her life, I think I was
probably talking to her more often than he was.
“My
question though is this, if Earl Spencer can be so incredibly, defamatorially
wrong about such basic facts involving me, well, why should we believe anything
else he puts in this book?”
The
pictures of Diana working out were taken by Bryce Taylor, the then-owner of LA
Fitness in Isleworth, west London, who used a high-tech camera hidden in a
panel above the princess’s head to capture her astride an exercise machine
wearing a leotard and cycling shorts.
She
launched legal action against Mr Taylor and Mirror Group Newspapers and they
later settled out of court in 1995, with the princess’ legal costs met and a
donation secured to charity.
The
photos were first published in the Sunday Mirror and then the Daily Mirror.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário