Piers Morgan sues Earl Spencer over ‘demonstrable lies’ in new book

British broadcaster Piers Morgan is taking legal action against the brother of Diana, the late Princess of Wales, over what he calls “demonstrable lies” in a new book.

Earl Spencer, who is Diana’s younger brother, made a number of claims about Morgan in his book Swan Song, which is out tomorrow in Australia.

In response, 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’“.

Speaking on his show Piers Morgan Uncensored, he added: “If Earl Spencer can be so incredibly defamatorily wrong about such basic facts involving me, well why should we believe anything else that he puts in this book?”

One of the allegations is that Morgan “snarled with annoyance” when he was asked by the earl not to attend Diana’s funeral in 1997.

As then-editor of the Daily Mirror, Morgan was invited to the princess’ funeral along with other newspaper bosses.

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When the earl found out he was “flabbergasted” and personally phoned each editor asking them not to attend, blaming the tabloids for years of intrusion into Diana’s life.

Most were “slightly confused”, the earl wrote, but chose to stay away from the service at Westminster Abbey.

“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,” he wrote.

While it is not clear what exactly it is inside the book that Morgan is suing over, he said Earl Spencer’s book “contains fabricated inaccuracies which will strike to the heart of his credibility”.

In Swan Song, the earl recounted what he described as “such an intolerable invasion of her privacy” when Diana was at a gym in 1993.

The earl wrote that “[Morgan] and his Sunday Mirror counterpart had published photographs taken with hidden cameras by a gym owner” showing Diana exercising in a leotard. The princess later launched legal proceedings against Mirror Group.

However, the photos were published two years before Morgan became editor of the paper, in 1995.

Earl Spencer’s book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is out in Australia on September 23, but excerpts have been published in British media since late last week.

Since then, the earl has become embroiled in a war of words with Buckingham Palace and King Charles. The palace took the extraordinary step of issuing a statement saying grief could “cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory”.

The earl claims then-Prince Charles said of Diana: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”.

He also alleged Charles phoned him in the days after Diana’s death and sounded “giddy” and “like a lottery winner”.

During interviews publicising the book, Earl Spencer said media coverage of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had “echoes” of Diana’s treatment by the press.

Coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan had been a “cancerous influence in their life”, the earl said, and it would be “beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example”.

In response, Morgan wrote on X: “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”.