Earl Spencer issued an apology after publishing incorrect information in his new book about Princess Diana’s funeral, specifically regarding Piers Morgan's involvement and reaction to being uninvited from the ceremony. Morgan plans to sue Earl Spencer and Penguin Books for defamation, stating that Spencer falsely portrayed him as surly during a phone call about the funeral two years after Morgan had actually started working at the Daily Mirror. The incident highlights tensions between media figures and royal associates over the coverage of Diana’s life and death.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-22,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The earl says he told the Queen's senior private secretary, Robert Fellowes, that they were not welcome as that had, in his opinion, "killed her".
asserted
that → say → her
Spencer writes that he personally called tabloid editors to uninvite them from the ceremony.
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he → write → ceremony
"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 writes.
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Spencer → sound → annoyance
The earl also claims that he assumed Morgan must be feeling "guilt" over the Sunday Mirror publishing photographs of Diana wearing a leotard in a gym four years earlier.
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Diana → claim → gym
Morgan reacted to the claims on his Piers Morgan Uncensored show on Monday night.
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Morgan → react → night
I come across in the most despicable manner imaginable.
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I → come → manner
It's all bullshit and very, very easy bullshit for me to prove it,” he said.
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he → prove → it
Morgan said the Sunday Mirror published the pictures of Diana in November 1993 - two years before he started working at the Daily Mirror.
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he → say → Mirror
He added: "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?"
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he → add → book
Morgan wrote on X: "I am taking legal action against Earl Spencer and his publishers over demonstrable lies he has written about me in his new book, which call into question his credibility as a supposed ‘historian'."
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which → write → historian
A statement on behalf of Charles Spencer read: “Earl Spencer’s account of his conversation with Piers Morgan is accurate.
“
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account → read → Morgan
Mr Morgan was surly and annoyed when Earl Spencer called personally to tell him that he was not welcome at his sister’s funeral.
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he → annoy → 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.
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Group → record → gym
“The photographs were published by the Sunday Mirror on November 7 1993.
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photographs → publish → November
Mr Morgan has pointed out that he did not join the Daily Mirror until October 1995.
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he → point → October
He therefore wishes to clarify that his assumption was incorrect.
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assumption → wish → ?
Earl Spencer apologises to Mr Morgan for this error.”
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Spencer → apologise → error
But in a message on X on Tuesday afternoon, Morgan said he still planned to take legal action against the earl.
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he → say → earl
He wrote: “Earl Spencer has apologised to me for his defamatory lies published in his new book, Swan Song, published today.
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Spencer → write → book
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.”
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damages → pursue → Trust
Spencer said he felt it was his “duty… as an eyewitness to history” to write a new memoir chronicling the life of his sister.
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it → say → sister
In response to the claims made in the memoir, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said on Wednesday: “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.”
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others → make → loss
Speaking about an alleged row over Diana’s funeral arrangements involving her sons, the earl said: “(The King) went ballistic, would be the right term, and started really going for my family as a whole, about their sense of duty, not being adequate enough, and ranted for a while, I have no idea how long, but it was a significant period, and I just listened.
“
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I → speak → idea
And then he stopped, and I thought, ‘Oh now he’s going to pull himself together and say something more appropriate’.
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he → stop → something
“And then he said, ‘We’ll forget her soon enough’.”
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We → say → her
On what William and Harry might think of the comments being brought up, the earl added the words “will not be a surprise”, the BBC reported.
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BBC → think → comments
In another extract from the interview with the BBC, the earl said the relationship between the press and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “echoes” the way the media treated his sister.
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media → say → sister
The Aporia
