The Aporia · Earl Spencer apologises to Piers Morgan over factual error in Diana book

Earl Spencer apologises to Piers Morgan over factual error in Diana book

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BBC News. (2026, September 22). Earl Spencer apologises to Piers Morgan over factual error in Diana book. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr93e2nz0281o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

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Quick Summary

Earl Spencer has issued an apology to Piers Morgan after incorrectly stating in his book that Morgan was the editor of the Daily Mirror when intrusive photographs of Princess Diana were published. Earl Spencer acknowledged that his assumption about Morgan's role at the time was incorrect and expressed regret for the error. Penguin, the publisher of Earl Spencer’s book, plans to amend this factual mistake in future editions.

Written by AI on 2026-09-22, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, has apologized to Piers Morgan for incorrectly stating that Morgan was behind the publication of intrusive photos of Princess Diana taken at a gym when he wasn't the editor of the Daily Mirror. This comes after Morgan threatened legal action over "fabricated inaccuracies" in Spencer’s book "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister," which also claims Morgan sounded surly and annoyed when told he was not invited to Diana's funeral. The factual error regarding Morgan’s role at the time of photo publication has raised questions about other recollections in the memoir. Despite this apology, Morgan is still pursuing legal action against Spencer and his publisher Penguin for alleged defamation.

Written for “Piers Morgan Earl Spencer Lawsuit” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 7 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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'Swang Song': New book by Princess Diana's brother drops Different event

Deutsche Welle

Hedges 4 of 17 claims Outlet record 95/100

“Article A discusses the release and controversy surrounding Charles Spencer's book, while Article B specifically addresses an apology for a factual error in that book.”

'Swan Song': New book by Princess Diana's brother drops Different event

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Hedges 4 of 17 claims Outlet record 95/100

“Article A discusses the release and controversy surrounding Charles Spencer's new book, while Article B focuses on Earl Spencer apologizing for a factual error in the book. These are related but distinct events.”

Piers Morgan threatens to sue Earl Spencer over book’s ‘fabricated inaccuracies’ Different event

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Hedges 3 of 37 claims Outlet record 65/100

“While both articles discuss Earl Spencer's book about Princess Diana and its claims involving Piers Morgan, Article A reports on Morgan threatening to sue over inaccuracies in the book, while Article B focuses on Spencer apologizing for a specific factual error.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

0 of 7 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

68/100

BBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Entertainment

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-22 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

BBC News · 4753 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 202 articles by BBC News →

Topics

BBC Penguin the BBC News App the Daily Mirror the Mirror Group

Subjects

Diana PERSON · 3× Earl Spencer PERSON · 3× Morgan PERSON · 2× BBC ORG · 1× Penguin ORG · 1× Piers Morgan PERSON · 1× the Daily Mirror ORG · 1× the Mirror Group ORG · 1×

Narrative

In his memoir, Earl Spencer said Morgan was editor of the Daily Mirror when the Mirror Group published "highly intrusive photographs of Princess Diana at the gym".

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-22

🔮 The BBC understands Penguin, the publishers of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, will be amending this one point in future editions of the book.

2026-09-22 · BBC News

Earl Spencer apologises to Piers Morgan over factual error in Diana book · assertive framing

Claims (7 extracted, 0 hedged)

- Published Earl Spencer has apologised to Piers Morgan over a factual error in his new book about Diana, Princess of Wales. asserted

Spencer → publish → Wales

In his memoir, Earl Spencer said Morgan was editor of the Daily Mirror when the Mirror Group published "highly intrusive photographs of Princess Diana at the gym". asserted

Group → say → gym

Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, admitted "his assumption was incorrect" and "apologises to Mr Morgan for this error", a statement said. asserted

statement → admit → error

The BBC understands Penguin, the publishers of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, will be amending this one point in future editions of the book. asserted

Penguin → understand → book

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. asserted

details → break → ?

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. asserted

You → receive → App

You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X, external to get the latest alerts. asserted

You → follow → alerts