Earl Spencer apologises to Piers Morgan over claim in Diana memoir

Earl Spencer has apologised to Piers Morgan for making what he described as an incorrect assumption in his new book about Diana, Princess of Wales, The Guardian reports. Spencer had claimed that Morgan, a former tabloid editor, was behind the publication of intrusive photographs of Diana in the mid-1990s. He later acknowledged that the claim was wrong and said that “accuracy is important”.

Morgan had threatened to sue Spencer over what he called “fabricated inaccuracies” and “examples of brazen falsity” in the memoir, which was published on Tuesday. The supplied material does not identify the photographs in question, explain how Spencer reached the original conclusion or state whether Morgan will pursue legal action after the apology. It also contains no response from the publisher or further details about changes to the book.

The dispute concerns a claim in Spencer’s account of his sister’s life and the subsequent acknowledgement that Morgan had been wrongly identified in connection with the photographs.