I could write ‘hit piece’ on royal family but ‘that’s not my job’ – Earl Spencer

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Evening Standard · collected 2026-09-23 · by Tony Jones

Quick Summary

Earl Spencer asserts that while he could write a critical account of the royal family, his book "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" does not intend to be a hit piece against King Charles. The memoir includes allegations such as the king expressing relief at Diana's death and using insensitive language regarding her funeral procession. Buckingham Palace issued a response defending the monarch’s character, while former tabloid editor Piers Morgan has accused Spencer of defamation over an error in his book concerning a photograph publication.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-23, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer, has stated he could write a "hit piece on the royal family" but emphasized it was not a threat and that he would not actually do so. His comments come in response to Piers Morgan's claim that the royal family is upset over his new book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which details allegations against them regarding Princess Diana’s life. Earl Spencer defended his work by saying it was necessary to provide context for certain events involving Diana and insisted his goal was to celebrate her memory rather than harm others' reputations. The book has garnered significant attention globally due to its critical stance towards the monarchy, particularly concerning statements made about Princess Diana when she was alive.

Written for “Royal Family Controversy” on 2026-10-04, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
28%
5 of 18 hedged
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Correction & hedging signals
67.5
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-23 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Royal Family Controversy
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 28% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 11% hedged 9 of 84 📰 publisher trust 61
“The articles discuss related topics but describe different events - one focuses on Earl Spencer's recent comments about writing a book and its impact, while the other discusses the analysis of his eulogy for Princess Diana.”
CBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 23% hedged 8 of 35 📰 publisher trust 77
“The articles discuss Earl Spencer's book and views on the royal family, but they do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”
Fox News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 27% hedged 8 of 30 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles discuss different aspects of Earl Spencer's memoir about Princess Diana; Article A focuses on potential criticisms of the royal family, while Article B highlights revelations from the book concerning an American politician and Prince Charles' reaction to Diana's death.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 27% hedged 6 of 22 📰 publisher trust 68
“The articles describe Earl Spencer's motivations for writing his memoir and defend it from accusations that it is a 'hit piece', but they do not report on the exact same incident or time frame.”
The Sydney Morning Herald · 0.88 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 15% hedged 4 of 27 📰 publisher trust 61
“The articles discuss related controversies surrounding Earl Spencer's book about Princess Diana but describe different aspects of the ongoing incident, including claims and denouncements by different parties.”
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 50% hedged 2 of 4 📰 publisher trust 68
“Article A discusses Buckingham Palace's rebuttal to claims in Earl Spencer’s memoir, while Article B focuses on Earl Spencer's denial that his book is a 'hit piece' against the royal family.”
NBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 11% hedged 2 of 19 📰 publisher trust 95
“The articles discuss related topics but describe different events: Article A reports on Charles Spencer accusing King Charles of 'gaslighting', while Article B is about Earl Spencer clarifying that his book is not a hit piece on the royal family.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 1 of 16 📰 publisher trust 64
“The articles discuss different aspects of Earl Spencer's book, with Article A focusing on Prince Harry's potential documentary and a quote about declining requests from various individuals including his nephew, while Article B focuses on Earl Spencer's denial that his book is intended as a hit piece against the royal family.”
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 3 of 47 📰 publisher trust 61
“The articles discuss different aspects of Charles Spencer's book about Princess Diana, with Article A focusing on a factual error and legal threat, while Article B discusses Spencer's stance on the nature and intent of the book.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 7% hedged 2 of 30 📰 publisher trust 65
“Article A reports on Earl Spencer's apology for incorrect statements in his book, while Article B discusses Spencer's stance that his book is not a hit piece against the royal family.”

Publisher

Evening Standard · 3431 article(s) · 22 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 22 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Tony Jones
24 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, expected to attend the Commonwealth summit with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, recently reiterated the Government’s position during an interview with Politico, a digital newspaper, saying: “I don’t think reparations are the answer, and I’ve had those discussions already with some of our Commonwealth colleagues.” A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “There are important discussions taking place in various fora about colonial legacy and the intergenerational impact of the transatlantic trade in enslaved persons. “
🔮 Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, expected to attend the Commonwealth summit with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, recently reiterated the Government’s position during an interview with Politico, a digital newspaper, saying: “I don’t think reparations are the answer, and I’ve had those discussions already with some of our Commonwealth colleagues.” A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “There are important discussions taking place in various fora about colonial legacy and the intergenerational impact of the transatlantic trade in enslaved persons. “
🔮 William tells villagers ‘holistic’ approach required to tackle flooding William sympathised with residents in the rural settlement of Skenfrith who might be “anxious” about extreme weather events he said were no longer “one in 50-year” occurrences but seemed to be happening every year.
🔮 Earl Spencer has said he could write a “hit piece on the royal family” but said it was not a threat as he would not put pen to paper.
🔮 In a speech to recipients, their families and some of the WellChild nurses, Harry became emotional after saying: “To all the mums and dads – most of us will never truly know the emotional ups and downs of your day.”
🔮 Will Messer, the 10-year-old winner of the Inspirational Child award, asked the duke to sign a Funko Pop “Prince Harry” doll and presented him with a silk scarf from his favourite football team, Sunderland.
🔮 It has been reported Meghan is aiming to rekindle her work with her UK-based charities but it is understood she will not attend Monday’s charity event.
2026-09-21 · assertive framing · Meghan to miss Harry’s WellChild Awards ceremony
🔮 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. “
🔮 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. “
🔮 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.
Also by Tony Jones
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 24 articles by Tony Jones →

Topics

Buckingham Palace Daily Mirror Mirror The Sun Wales

Subjects

Diana PERSON · 9× Morgan PERSON · 4× Earl Spencer PERSON · 2× Harry PERSON · 2× Lorraine PERSON · 2× William PERSON · 2× Charles Spencer’s PERSON · 1× Earl Spencer’s PERSON · 1× Piers Morgan PERSON · 1× Wales GPE · 1×

Narrative

Read More Mr Morgan was working at The Sun at the time, and did not join the Mirror as its editor until 1995. He said: “I mean, unlike some journalists we know, I’m very happy to acknowledge I made a small error and I’ve apologised and it will be put right in the second edition, but that’s it.”
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-23
🔮 Earl Spencer has said he could write a “hit piece on the royal family” but said it was not a threat as he would not put pen to paper.

Claims (18 extracted, 5 hedged)

Earl Spencer has said he could write a “hit piece on the royal family” but said it was not a threat as he would not put pen to paper. uncertain
he → say → paper
Charles Spencer’s controversial book about his sister Diana, Princess of Wales has made headlines around the world for its string of allegations against the monarch, but he insisted it was not a “hit piece on the King”. asserted
it → make → King
Former tabloid editor Piers Morgan has claimed the royal family are “spitting blood” over Earl Spencer’s memoir about Diana – called Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – and that he wants to “destroy” the reputation of the King. “It was impossible to give the full story of Diana’s life without putting in context certain things. “This is not a threat at all because I’m not going to do it, if I wanted to write a hit piece on the royal family, I could do that – that’s not my job. “My job in this book was to celebrate Diana, it’s exactly the same as with the eulogy. uncertain
it → claim → eulogy
“By doing that, other people are going to come off not as well as they might want to.” uncertain
they → do → that
Earl Spencer claims in his book that the King, then the Prince of Wales, said about Diana “we’ll forget her soon enough” during an argument over whether the then Princes William and Harry should walk behind their mother’s coffin in her funeral procession. uncertain
William → claim → procession
The memoir also alleges the King “sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner” when he spoke to the earl after Diana’s death. asserted
he → allege → death
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”. asserted
others → word → loss
When asked by Lorraine if he stood by everything he said about the King, the earl replied: “Yes, so I would like to explain, I wasn’t setting out to do a hit piece on the King at all. asserted
I → ask → King
“The bits that have been included in the book are totally in context.” asserted
that → include → context
The earl repeated his apology after wrongly suggesting in his book that 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. asserted
Diana → repeat → 1993
Read More Mr Morgan was working at The Sun at the time, and did not join the Mirror as its editor until 1995. He said: “I mean, unlike some journalists we know, I’m very happy to acknowledge I made a small error and I’ve apologised and it will be put right in the second edition, but that’s it.” asserted
that → read → edition
Mr Morgan has called on Diana’s brother to pulp the remaining copies of his book and instructed his lawyers to demand the work be pulled from sale immediately. asserted
work → call → sale
He reacted to the earl describing his mistake as a “small error” during an appearance on the Channel 5 show Jeremy Vine, saying: “I don’t think that’s a small error, nor do my lawyers, it’s a serious defamation.” asserted
it → react → show
Mr Morgan said: “I’m not professing to be the Mother Teresa of Fleet Street in all the time I worked there, and I didn’t never make mistakes myself, but this is a very, very big mistake and I think he’s done it in a way that’s incredibly casual.” asserted
that → say → way
The earl said he did not talk to any members of the royal family about his book as he wanted to take “full responsibility” for its contents and it was not a “book by committee”. asserted
it → say → committee
He added: “So I told both William and Harry and my sisters earlier on the day that it was released, as a piece of news, that the book was coming out.” asserted
book → add → news
Asked by Lorraine if he could be a mediator in the long-running rift between Diana’s sons, the earl said: “But I’ve never presumed to be involved in that. uncertain
I → ask → that
“Everyone watching has probably knowledge of family rifts, they’re so personal, there’s so much we don’t know about in any family rift, and it’s just down to the individuals to deal with it how they want and I would never presume to advise on that.” asserted
I → watch → that
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