Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer apologises for factual error in new book amid legal threat, call to 'pulp' it
In short:
Charles Spencer says he will not pull his new book on the late Princess Diana, despite it containing a factual error.
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it → apologise → error
Piers Morgan has threatened legal action if the book remains in stores with the error in it.
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book → threaten → it
Spencer said he got a "date wrong" but maintains other recollections of his about Morgan's behaviour are true.
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recollections → say → behaviour
Princess Diana's brother Charles Spencer has told 7.30 the controversial book he authored about his late sibling's life contains one factual error, but he will not pull it from shelves.
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he → tell → shelves
The novel, titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, has already been released in the United Kingdom after a week of disagreement over its contents and questions about its accuracy.
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novel → title → accuracy
It's due to go on sale in Australia today.
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It → go → Australia
Broadcaster Piers Morgan is demanding Earl Spencer "pulp" the memoir because it contains claims about him that are "all bulls**t".
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that → demand → him
Morgan says his lawyers have sent letters to the peer and book's publisher, Penguin, threatening legal action if it remains in stores.
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it → say → stores
The media personality has bristled at suggestions in the book he was involved in a decision to print "stolen" images of Diana while he was editor of London's Daily Mirror, pointing out he had not started working at the newspaper until almost two years after the story in question hit the presses.
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story → bristle → presses
Morgan also disputes Earl Spencer's recollection of a phone call the pair had, where the aristocrat revoked his invitation to Diana's funeral.
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aristocrat → dispute → funeral
Earl Spencer claimed Morgan "snarled with annoyance".
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Morgan → claim → annoyance
Speaking with 7.30 at his family's home north of London on Tuesday, local time, Earl Spencer apologised for the error.
"I have got a date wrong, so there's been a public statement made on my behalf to state what I have done and I apologise," he said, but said Morgan's "surly behaviour" on the phone was "true".
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behaviour → speak → phone
While the eBook and future printed editions will be updated so they do not include the claim about Morgan's time at the Daily Mirror, the earl does not plan to remove the first edition from sale.
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earl → print → sale
In a video posted online, Morgan railed: "If Earl Spencer can be so incredibly, defamatorily wrong about basic facts involving me, why should we believe anything else his puts in this book?"
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his → post → book
'Classic gaslighting': Spencer responds to Palace
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Spencer → respond → Palace
The aristocrat's novel has made new allegations about Britain's royal family and their treatment of Diana, and dredged up damaging stories already in the public domain.
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novel → make → domain
Several excerpts from the book — some particularly critical of King Charles III, who was married to Diana for 15 years — were published ahead of its release, sparking a fierce rebuke from Buckingham Palace.
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who → marry → Palace
The most disparaging allegations Earl Spencer has made relate to phone calls he says he had with Charles around the time of Diana's 1997 death in a car crash.
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he → make → crash
Charles and Diana's acrimonious divorce had been finalised the previous year.
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divorce → finalise → ?
Earl Spencer accused Charles of sounding "giddily elated" during a conversation on the night Diana died, and also of saying "we'll forget her soon enough" several days after the crash.
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we → accuse → crash
He also claimed Charles had made a comment about Diana's weight, after their engagement, that contributed to the well-documented eating disorder that she lived with, amid other details about his sister's deteriorating mental health.
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she → claim → health
Last week, after the first excerpts from the book were published in British newspapers, Buckingham Palace released this fiery statement: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgement and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."
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others → publish → loss
Earl Spencer told 7.30 Buckingham Palace's words amounted to "a classic bit of gaslighting" because they were suggesting his "brain isn't working correctly".
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brain → tell → gaslighting
When asked why people should believe his account over King Charles', Earl Spencer said: "The king hasn't actually said anything.
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king → ask → anything
I've told the truth, and his spokesman or whatever has tried to cloud my truth — the truth — with a question mark."
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spokesman → tell → mark
Earl Spencer says he decided to write the book to coincide with the 30th anniversary of his sister's death, and because he — aged 62 — has become increasingly aware of his own mortality.
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he → say → mortality
"Neither of my parents made it to 70," he told 7.30.
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he → make → 7.30
"Why not do it while I still have what I laughingly call my brain active and give it a go?"
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I → do → go
The earl, who has previously worked as a journalist and historian, has already written several books.
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who → work → books
He has been accused by some of trying to profit off his sister's death by releasing the memoir.
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He → accuse → memoir
"Money has never been any part of my writing this book at all," Earl Spencer said, adding that he had received a "flood of applications for interviews" about the anniversary that he did not want to do.
"
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he → write → that
And then I thought, how about if people want to know what I had to say, why don't I say it myself?"
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I → think → it
Diana 'loved Australia', despite turmoil
The book contains multiple references to time Diana spent in Australia.
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Diana → love → Australia
It details the time she spent at her mother and stepfather's property in country New South Wales in February 1981, shortly before her engagement to Charles was made public.
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engagement → detail → Charles
Earl Spencer claimed his sister spent the trip mulling her options.
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sister → claim → options
"Diana made her decision during her fortnight hidden away from the press on the other side of the world," a passage in the book reads.
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passage → make → book
Earl Spencer also references an infamous picture of a sobbing Diana snapped at the Sydney Opera House during her first royal tour to Australia in 1983.
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Spencer → reference → 1983
Huge crowds turned out to see her in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities, prompting some of the media at the time to describe the scenes as "Dianamania".
Earl Spencer claimed the amount of attention Diana had been getting had angered Charles and made him envious.
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him → turn → Charles
"Outside the Sydney Opera House, Diana was so upset at her husband's attitude towards her that she sobbed uncontrollably in public for two minutes," Earl Spencer wrote in his book.
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Spencer → sob → book
He told 7.30 his sister "loved Australia" and while the 1983 tour had been "happy", it was a "pivotal point" in Diana's relationship with Charles for the wrong reasons.
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it → tell → reasons
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
