Piers Morgan has lashed out after Earl Charles Spencer's book topped The Sunday Times Bestsellers List. The pair have been locked in a public spat since the release of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, and there are no signs of the feud easing.
The book, described as a celebration of Princess Diana's life, was ranked at the top of the list, selling 102,670 copies in its first week. Swan Song has been the subject of controversy, as it included a number of explosive claims about King Charles.
Claims against King Charles and Piers Morgan
Earl Spencer alleged that King Charles said, "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough" and sounded like a "lottery winner" after Diana was killed in a car accident in 1997. He also took aim at Piers, claiming he sounded "surly" and "snarled with annoyance" when Earl Spencer called him to tell him he had been uninvited to Diana's funeral.
He added that Piers must have felt "guilt" over the Sunday Mirror's decision to publish photographs of Diana wearing a leotard while working out at a gym four years before her death. However, he didn't join the organisation until 1995.
Legal action over "demonstrable lies"
Piers later announced that he would be taking legal action against Earl Spencer and the book's publishers, Penguin Random House, for the "demonstrable lies" written about him in Swan Song.
Following the announcement that Earl Spencer's book has been a major hit with the public, Piers took to X to call out the publishers. "Hi @PenguinUKBooks @penguinusa - congrats on the huge number of copies of Earl Spencer’s new book you’ve sold. Unfortunately, they all include a defamatory lie about me for which he has already apologised. How do you intend compensating me for this egregious error?" he wrote on X.
After Piers pointed out the initial error in the book, Earl Spencer apologised, and it was revealed that upcoming editions of the memoir would be edited and reprinted.
Legal letter published
However, when Earl Spencer denied that Piers was taking legal action against him, the Uncensored host published a legal letter in his defamation lawsuit against Princess Diana's younger brother.
In the letter addressed to the Earl from Piers' lawyers, Schillings, they alleged: "The book contains false, defamatory, and indefensible statements about our client. You must immediately issue a retraction and take steps to prevent their continued publication."
Highlighting the allegations, they continued: "The book alleges that our client was the editor of the Daily Mirror when intrusive photos of Princess Diana, taken with a hidden camera in the gym, were published and that he had a particular 'guilt' in relation to the incident. Further, it alleges that he was editor when the paper brazenly defended that publication through the courts (until it settled and acknowledged its guilt)."
Schillings added: "The book also alleges that our client's spokesperson boasted that sales of The Sunday Mirror and the Daily Mirror had each increased by more than 100,000 copies following the publication of the intrusive photos of Princess Diana."
They described the allegations as "false and damaging," before writing several demands to the Earl's lawyers. In addition to a response, they want them to "recall and suspend further distribution of the book" and "publish a retraction and apology to our client on terms to be agreed".
Further requests included: "Remove the relevant passages from future editions and insert corrective slips into existing stock of the book. Undertake (in terms agreed) not to repeat the allegations or materially similar allegations in the future," and "Pay damages (at a level to be agreed) to the King's Trust and pay our client's costs of this complaint."
