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By Hannah Parry
Associate News Editor
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Piers Morgan has threatened legal action over claims Earl Charles Spencer made about him in his forthcoming memoir about Princess Diana.
Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Monday, the broadcaster said his lawyers would contact Spencer and the publishers of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister over what he described as “demonstrable lies” in the book.
One of the claims Morgan challenged concerns photographs of Diana taken with a hidden camera while she was exercising in a leotard. Spencer wrote that Morgan "and his Sunday Mirror counterpart" had published the photographs, describing the episode as an “intolerable invasion of her privacy.”
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Morgan strongly disputed the account, pointing out that the photographs were published by the Daily Mirror on November 7, 1993—nearly two years before he joined the newspaper.
“At the time of the gym pictures, I was doing a showbiz column on the Mirror's arch-rival, The Sun,” Morgan said on his program. He argued that he therefore had no responsibility for the Mirror's publication of the photographs.
On Tuesday, Spencer issued a public apology to Morgan over the claims.
In a statement to Newsweek, he said that it had been his "assumption" that Morgan had been responsible for the photos because he had been the editor of the Daily Mirror. But he accepted Morgan's statement that he had not joined the paper until almost two years after they were published.
"As an historian, accuracy is important to Earl Spencer. He therefore wishes to clarify that his assumption was incorrect. Earl Spencer apologizes to Mr. Morgan for this error," he said.
However, he is standing by the other claim involving Morgan in the book.
Spencer described in the memoir how he had personally contacted newspaper editors before Diana's 1997 funeral, asking them not to attend the service at Westminster Abbey because of the intense press scrutiny his sister had faced.
He wrote that most editors were “slightly confused” but agreed to stay away. Morgan, who was The Daily Mirror's editor at the time, was the exception.
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“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,” Spencer wrote.
In a statement to Newsweek, he said that his account of his conversation with Morgan was "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," he continued.
On Tuesday, Morgan confirmed he had received Spencer's apology but said it would not stop him from pursuing legal action.
"Earl Spencer has apologized to me for his defamatory lies published in his new book, Swan Song, published today," the TV host said. "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."
Newsweek has reached out to Spencer's publisher Penguin Random House for comment.
On his eponymous show on Monday, Morgan described the allegations as “very damning” but “very, very easy” to disprove. “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?” he asked.
He then directly addressed Spencer, saying: “You'll be hearing, and your publishers, from my lawyers.” Morgan said he wanted the claims about him and the photographs removed from the book and called for a donation to be made to the King's Trust.
A Long-Running Dispute Over the Press
Spencer's memoir repeatedly returns to the intense media attention surrounding Diana, who was pursued by photographers and subjected to extensive tabloid coverage before her death in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997. He has argued that the experience profoundly affected his sister.
Morgan's dispute with Spencer consequently touches on two separate issues: the specific claims the earl has made about Morgan's conduct in 1997, and the broader argument over the media's treatment of Diana and the Royal Family.
Morgan Accuses Spencer of Hypocrisy
Morgan has also criticized Spencer over the memoir's broader content, accusing him of hypocrisy for condemning the media's treatment of Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, while making damaging claims about King Charles.
Spencer recently told the BBC that Harry and Meghan's treatment by sections of the press had “echoes” of what happened to Diana. He described the media coverage as a “cancerous influence in their life” and said people should learn from Diana's experience.
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Morgan responded on social media, writing that Spencer was criticizing the media for its treatment of Harry and Meghan while simultaneously publishing a book that treated King Charles in what Morgan described as a similarly “malign” way.
"I’ve seen some brass necks in my time but Earl Spencer slamming the ‘malign cancerous’ way the media supposedly treat Harry/Meghan, whilst simultaneously flogging his book which treats King Charles in a malign cancerous way (as he actually battles cancer) is beyond parody," he wrote on X.
The dispute over Morgan comes as Spencer's memoir has already triggered a separate confrontation with Buckingham Palace.
Prince Harry refused to comment on Spencer's memoir as he attended an award ceremony in London on Monday.
Spencer's Claims About King Charles
In the book, Spencer makes a series of claims about King Charles' reaction to Princess Diana's death in 1997.
He alleges that King Charles sounded “giddily elated” when he spoke to him by telephone after Diana's death, comparing his tone to that of a “lottery winner.” He also claims Charles said, “We'll forget her soon enough,” during a conversation about whether Princes William and Harry should walk behind their mother's coffin at her funeral.
Spencer has said he remembers the conversation clearly, saying he was “hyper alert” to Charles' words because the pair had spoken by telephone only twice in his lifetime. He has also said he told close friends and family about the conversation at the time because he found Charles' alleged remarks so extraordinary.
How Did King Charles Respond to the Memoir?
Buckingham Palace issued an unusually pointed response to Spencer's account of the phone call following Diana's death. A palace spokesperson said King Charles was “mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss.”
Spencer subsequently rejected the implication that his recollection had been distorted by grief, insisting in a BBC interview that he was “telling the truth.” He said he had told family and friends about the conversation at the time because of what he described as the “monstrous” nature of the alleged remark.
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The BBC also reported that journalist Richard Kay recalled Spencer telling him about a “furious row” with Charles in the week between Diana's death and funeral.
Dame Julia Cleverdon, a longtime associate of Charles, disputed Spencer's characterization of the King's reaction, telling BBC's Radio 4 that it did not reflect “the language or the behaviours of a man I've known for 40 years.”
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What Is Swan Song: Diana, My Sister About?
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is Charles Spencer's first extended account of his sister's life, written from the perspective of her younger brother. The memoir covers their childhood together, Diana's marriage to the then-Prince Charles, her life as a member of the Royal Family, her relationship with her sons and the events surrounding her death in 1997.
Spencer has said he wanted to set down his own memories of Diana ahead of the 30th anniversary of her death, arguing that accounts of his sister had too often been shaped by what he regards as inaccurate versions of events. The publisher describes the book as an intimate portrait of Diana and her life, including the intense press attention surrounding her.
The memoir has already generated controversy over Spencer's recollections of the Royal Family. Among the most disputed claims is his account of a phone call with then-Prince Charles shortly after Diana's death.
When Is Earl Spencer's Memoir Released?
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is due to be published in the U.S. on Tuesday, September 22 by Penguin Press, a division of Penguin Random House.
The U.S. hardcover is 384 pages, according to Penguin Random House.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Sam Wilson.
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