Piers Morgan publishes legal documents as he demands damages from Earl Spencer

Piers Morgan has again accused Earl Spencer of lying as he published legal correspondence between himself and those acting for publishers of the bombshell memoir Swan Song.

Veteran journalist Morgan has been embroiled in a spat with Princess Diana’s brother over the publication of the book, which hit shelves on 22 September.

The Earl last week repeated an apology after wrongly suggesting 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 in 1993.

Mr Morgan was working at The Sun at the time, and did not join the Mirror as its editor until 1995.

The book also suggests that Mr Morgan was "surly" and "snarled with annoyance" when Earl Spencer telephoned to ask that he not attend the funeral of Princess Diana, which he denies.

The journalist said the statements made about him were defamatory and requested the book be pulled from sale, with undisclosed damages to be paid to The King’s Trust.

Earl Spencer pledged to make corrections regarding the timeline of Mr Morgan’s Mirror appointment in the future editions, as he said that accuracy is important to him as a historian.

But the journalist on Wednesday published legal correspondence between Schillings, Morgan’s lawyers, and Wiggin, acting on behalf of the publisher.

The Telegraph reports that, at a book event in New York on Tuesday, the Earl was asked whether he was being sued by Mr Morgan and insisted that he was not.

On X yesterday, Mr Morgan wrote: “Given Earl Spencer has denied I’m taking legal action, I have decided the legal correspondence should be published to correct his latest lie.”

The letters, posted by the account for his YouTube programme Piers Morgan Uncensored, show confidential correspondence between the two law firms.

On behalf of Mr Morgan, Schillings requested that a retraction and apology be issued, the passage be removed from future editions, with corrections added to existing stock, the allegations not be repeated, damages paid to the King’s Trust and costs covered.

The letter said: “The Book contains false, defamatory and indefensible statements about our client”.

In response, Wiggin said it “did not act for Earl Spencer, but he has reviewed and approved this letter and will not, therefore, be responding under separate cover”.

It added that “Earl Spencer publicly acknowledged – in a statement released to and widely reported by the national and international media - that the Book inaccurately suggested that Mr Morgan was involved in the publication by the Mirror Group newspapers of photographs of Princess Diana at a gym in 1993, and apologised for this error.”

It argued that there are no grounds for a viable defamation claim, adding: "It follows that there is no stated basis and, in any event, we can conceive of no basis for your client's demands.

“We can confirm that appropriate amendments to address the acknowledged inaccuracy will be made to future reprints of the Book (including the paperback edition), and that the audiobook and ebook are being amended to correct the inaccuracy, but otherwise our client cannot see that any additional action or further response is required”, it said.

Replying again, Schillings doubled down on its demands, saying that the claims in the book were a risk to Mr Morgan’s journalistic integrity and were a harm to his reputation.

It said that the acceptance of an inaccuracy means the book should no longer be on sale.

The letter also repeated the request for terms to be agreed and damages to be paid to the King’s Trust.

It requests that Wiggin “provide advance copies of the proposed amendments to the print, eBook and audiobook editions, together with your substantive response to the outstanding requests above, by 5 pm on Thursday 1 October 2025.”

The Independent has contacted a representative for Earl Spencer for comment.