Piers Morgan has publicly shared legal correspondence concerning Earl Spencer after Princess Diana’s brother denied the broadcaster was taking legal action against him.
The former Good Morning Britain presenter, 61, posted what he described as proof of the dispute on social media, revealing a letter sent by his lawyers to Penguin over claims made about him in Spencer’s new book, Swan Song.
Morgan has accused the 62-year-old author and aristocrat of publishing ‘egregious lies’ about him, including an allegation concerning infamous photographs of Diana taken secretly while she exercised at a gym.
The pictures were published by the Daily Mirror in 1993 – two years before Morgan became the newspaper’s editor.
Spencer has since acknowledged the mistake and apologised, while publisher Penguin has said the error will be corrected in future editions.
But the row was reignited when Spencer appeared to deny that Morgan was suing him during an interview with Tina Brown in the US.
Morgan responded by producing the receipts.
‘After Earl Spencer’s denial that I am taking legal action against him publishing defamatory lies about me in his book, here is the legal correspondence between me and lawyers for Penguin, publishers of Swan Song,’ he wrote on X.
The documents shared by Morgan show his lawyers challenging what they describe as ‘false and damaging’ claims made in the book. The disputed passage about the gym photographs concerns images of Diana secretly taken at the LA Fitness gym in west London.
They caused a major privacy scandal after being published in 1993, but Morgan did not take charge of the Mirror until 1995, having previously edited the News of the World.
Spencer has now issued a public correction over that part of his account. ‘As an historian, accuracy is important to Earl Spencer,’ a statement read.
‘He therefore wishes to clarify that his assumption was incorrect. Earl Spencer apologises to Mr Morgan for this error.’
That, however, has not been enough to bring the increasingly public spat to an end.
Morgan also disputes Spencer’s recollection of a conversation surrounding Diana’s funeral following her death in Paris in August 1997.
In Swan Song, Spencer recalls being ‘flabbergasted’ to discover newspaper editors had apparently been invited to attend his sister’s funeral.
He claims the invitations were subsequently withdrawn, alleging Morgan reacted badly when he was informed he would no longer be attending.
According to Spencer’s account, Morgan ‘snarled with annoyance before he hung up’ and was the only editor who appeared ‘surly’ about the decision.
Morgan has rejected that version of events, insisting he was ‘neither surly nor annoyed’ during the conversation and had instead been ‘very respectful’.
His lawyers have now demanded significantly more than a correction in any future print run.
According to the correspondence Morgan published, his legal team has called for Swan Song to be withdrawn from sale and remaining copies to be pulped.
They have also sought damages, which Morgan wants paid to The King’s Trust.
The dispute marks a dramatic souring of relations between two men whose careers have repeatedly intersected with the extraordinary media attention surrounding Diana.
Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, famously delivered a blistering eulogy at his sister’s funeral in Westminster Abbey, where he spoke about the intense scrutiny she had faced during her life.
Morgan was one of Britain’s most prominent tabloid editors during the years following Diana’s death, remaining at the Mirror until 2004 before embarking on a television career that has included Good Morning Britain, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Now, almost three decades after the funeral at the centre of one of their disagreements, their competing versions of events look set to be argued over once again – this time with lawyers involved.