Key facts
- Earl Spencer admitted an assumption about Piers Morgan's role at the Daily Mirror was incorrect.
- The error concerned photographs of Princess Diana at a gym published in 1993.
- Piers Morgan did not become editor of the Daily Mirror until October 1995.
- At the time of the photos' publication, Morgan was a columnist at The Sun.
- Earl Spencer's account of his phone call with Morgan before Diana's funeral remains truthful, according to a spokesperson.
- Penguin will amend future editions of Earl Spencer's book 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister'.
Earl Spencer has issued a formal apology to Piers Morgan after admitting to a factual error in his new memoir, 'Swan Song: Diana, My Sister'. The mistake involved Spencer's claim that Morgan was the editor of the Daily Mirror when highly intrusive photographs of Princess Diana at a gym were published in 1993.
In reality, Morgan did not become editor of the Daily Mirror until October 1995, and at the time the photos appeared in the Sunday Mirror, he was working as a showbiz columnist for The Sun. Earl Spencer's team confirmed the apology, stating that his assumption was incorrect and that he apologizes for the error. Publishers Penguin are set to amend this specific point in future editions of the book.
The apology came after Morgan threatened legal action, calling the passages "fabricated inaccuracies" and "brazen falsity." A spokesperson for Earl Spencer maintained that the Earl's account of his phone call with Morgan ahead of Diana's funeral was accurate, stating Morgan sounded "surly and annoyed." The spokesperson explained that Spencer's book recorded his assumption that Morgan's reaction stemmed from guilt over the gym photographs, believing him to be the editor at the time of their publication.