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Piers Morgan threatens to sue Earl Spencer over book claims

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 28: Piers Morgan visits SiriusXM Studios on October 28, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images)
The book contains allegations about Morgan, which the broadcaster has strongly rebuked(Picture: Getty)

Piers Morgan has said he will sue Earl Spencer over ‘fabricated inaccuracies’ and ‘brazen falsity’ in his new book about Princess Diana.

The Earl has made a series of claims in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – including that the King said ‘we’ll forget her soon enough’ after she died and he sounded ‘giddily elated’ in the wake of the crash.

The book’s release has sparked a war of words between him and Buckingham Palace, and it contains allegations about Morgan, which the broadcaster has strongly rebuked.

Speaking on his YouTube show Piers Morgan Uncensored, he said: ‘Many allies of His Majesty have called into question these facts, ever since the most salacious accusations were serialised by the Daily Mail.

‘Many royal commentators and experts have lined up to say that they simply don’t ring true. The King himself issued a furious rebuke that is almost without precedent. But, in essence, this has all been about opinions. Recollections may vary, after all. Well, until now.’

Enterprise News and Pictures 18/9/26 Pic shows: Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer tells the BBC exclusively tonight that he is "telling the truth" about a phone call with King Charles in the days after his sister's death. He claims in a new book the then-Prince of Wales said "we'll forget her soon enough" during an argument over whether Princes William and Harry should walk in Diana's funeral procession. In his first interview since, Earl Spencer said: "I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said." In a strongly worded response, Buckingham Palace said the King was "mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss". Reacting to the statement from the Palace, Earl Spencer said: "Well, is he furious? Is he furious or is he embarrassed?" Speaking to the BBC at his Althorp estate, he added: "I've only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life. "I was hyper alert to what he was saying and those are precisely the words that he said and I promise that to you now. Genuinely, that is what he said. I don't hear him saying he didn't say that." Pressed on whether he had evidence to back up the claim, he said he told family and friends at the time what had been said "because it was so monstrous". In response to the Palace disputing his account, Earl Spencer, who shares his first name with the King, said: "They've sort of smudged that one, haven't they? They've said that recollections may vary." When asked which Charles the public was meant to believe, he said: "I'm telling the truth." Buckingham Palace declined to give a response to Earl Spencer's fresh comments. See story...
Earl Spencer has made wide ranging claims in his new book (Picture: BBC)

Piers said he was ‘exclusively revealing’ that Earl Spencer’s book contained ‘fabricated inaccuracies which will strike to the heart of his credibility.’

He added: ‘Spencer recounts how he personally called round the tabloid newspaper editors to uninvite them from Princess Diana’s funeral, after they had all been invited. I remember this well, because I was one of them.’

Morgan read an extract from the book, which said: ‘They realised they were unable to be rude to the brother of the much-mourned princess… The only one who sounded surly, as opposed to merely confused or embarrassed, was Piers Morgan of the Mirror, who snarled with annoyance before he hung up.’

‘I assumed Morgan must be feeling particular guilt because, four years earlier, he and his Sunday Mirror counterpart had published photographs taken with hidden cameras by a gym owner. They were of Diana working out in a leotard.

‘This was such an intolerable invasion of her privacy that Diana instructed lawyers to sue the Mirror Group and to block further use of the images.’

Piers continued to read: ‘Meanwhile, he says, a Dutch newspaper splashed one of the pictures on its front page, and an American tabloid bought a selection of them with which to titillate its readers. The gym owner eventually made £300,000 from his salacious, stolen images.

‘Spencer continues, for a while it looked like the Mirror group would be brazen enough to allow the case to go to court. Spencer continues, it agreed to pay Diana’s legal costs of around £1 million, and was obliged to further acknowledge its guilt by making donations of £200,000 to her chosen charities.

‘He then says, in the immediate aftermath of Diana’s death, Morgan was one of four tabloid editors named, shamed and photographed in an article looking at who might be held responsible for the paparazzi’s role… It must have been an extraordinary sensation for this powerful quartet…They were used to dishing out such treatment, without ever receiving it in return.’

Piers said the claims were ‘extraordinary’ and ‘damning’, but added: ‘It’s all bulls**t and very, very easy bull**it for me to prove it.’

The photographs Earl Spencer referenced were printed in 1993, but Piers said he joined the Daily Mirror in 1995 and was working at The Sun.

‘My question though is this, if Earl Spencer can be so incredibly, defamatorily wrong about such basic facts involving me, well, why should we believe anything else he puts in this book?’

Piers has threatened legal action against Earl Spencer in light of the allegations and asked for Diana’s brother to donate to the King’s Trust.

Earl Spencer has not commented on the matter.

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