EARL Spencer has insisted he is “not rattled” as Piers Morgan says royals are spitting blood over the “untruths and attacks” in his book.
The broadcaster has rejected an apology from Diana’s brother over inaccuracies about him that were included in the Earl’s book.
Piers demanded that copies of Earl Spencer’s book about his late sister be destroyed yesterday after it was published.
He has now called in his lawyers after discovering “complete lies” in the text.
The Earl admits wrongly claiming the ex-tabloid editor was behind the Mirror Group’s publication of intrusive photos of Diana in 1993.
Speaking today on Good Morning Britain, Piers slammed the author for his attempts to “attack and diminish” the King.
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The broadcaster questioned if Earl Spencer’s claims about King Charles in his novel are accurate in the wake of the revelation that claims about Piers were untrue.
In his book, the Earl described being “flabbergasted” to learn that newspaper editors had been asked to come to Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997.
He alleged Piers was unhappy when the then senior private secretary to the Queen called to withdraw the invitation.
“The only one who sounded surly, as opposed to merely confused or embarrassed, was Piers Morgan of the Mirror, who snarled with annoyance before he hung up,” Spencer wrote.
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He went on to claim he assumed Morgan must be feeling “guilt” over the leotard photographs of Diana published four years earlier.
Earl Spencer also made claims that King Charles was “elated” when he was informed of Diana’s death, among a slew of other allegations about the monarch.
Speaking today, Piers said: “It’s a fascinating situation because he’s now admitted publicly that what he wrote about me in the book is untrue.
“I was nowhere near the place when they did this and it was a huge, huge story at the time. This is not a trifling mistake he’s made, he’s directly accused me of committing the most egregious invasion of royal privacy in history.
“Our position is quite straightforward, every copy of the book that’s sold with that lie in it is damaging.
“I know for an absolute fact that the Royal Family are spitting blood and they are furious about this, and they are furious about the attempt to destroy King Charles’ reputation.
“He’s telling an untruth to attack and diminish our king and I think its reprehensible.”
Earl Spencer today appeared on Lorraine to discuss his book, which was published yesterday.
When asked how the fallout of the book has affected him, Earl Spencer said: “It hasn’t rattled me at all.”
He added: “There’s been all these headlines about criticisms I’m said to have made. This is a celebration from a brother’s point of view.
“As a brother I have every right to write about my sister and I can tell you what Diana would’ve liked – it’s 350 pages of compliments, and she loved a compliment!”
When asked about Piers’ reaction to the text, Earl Spencer said: “Unlike some journalists that we know of, I’m very happy to acknowledge that I made a small error and I’ve apologised and it will be put right in the second edition – but that’s it.”
And quizzed on what else he may have got wrong, he replied, “I stand by the book.”
Lorraine then went on to ask if he stands by everything he said about the King.
Earl Spencer replied: “I would like to explain that, I wasn’t setting out to do a hit piece on the King at all.
“The bits that have been included in the book are totally in context.”
The Earl went on to explain that the final line in his defiant eulogy – that his sister would never be “extinguished from our minds” – was a direct reaction to the King allegedly saying “she’ll be forgotten soon enough”.
Diana’s brother denied claims that it was a “book by committee”, saying Harry did not know about the book before it came out – contrary to reports.
He went on to say that he only spoke about the book with his wife when writing it, and then told Harry, William and his sisters at the same time as the Press.
Earl Spencer explained that his intention had not been to criticise the Royal Family, saying the book was “about Diana”.
He added: “It was impossible to give the full story of Diana’s life without putting in certain things. This is not a threat at all because I’m not going to do it.
“If I wanted to write a hit piece on the Royal Family I could do that, that’s not my job.”
Claims about The Firm contained within the salacious 367 pages forced Buckingham Palace to issue an “unprecedented” response.
When asked if he had been surprised by the statement, Earl Spencer said: “If you look at the words, it’s classic gaslighting. So what they do is ‘maybe his mind’s not right to remember these things’.”
He went on to double down on the claims he made about the King’s comments in his book, saying: “No one said the King didn’t say that, because he did.”
And, speaking about Harry’s time staying with his uncle, Earl Spencer said: “It’s so sad, I saw the two little kids running around – can you imagine what a great grandmother Diana would have been?”
The Earl claims King Charles was “giddily elated like a lottery winner” when he called about Diana’s death.
King Charles was also alleged to have sounded “strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster,” according to the Earl.
The princess’s brother has also accused King Charles of gaslighting him and hissing “We’ll forget her soon enough” after Di’s 1997 death.
Earl Spencer also went on to claim the late Queen reacted “tetchily” to the news of his sister’s car crash.
The Palace said last week that “fraternal grief” had clouded the Earl’s judgment in a damning statement.
Speaking on his Uncensored YouTube show, Piers said: “I am told on good authority, they [King Charles and Prince William] are spitting blood.
“Spitting blood at the audacity of this to masquerade it as history when it is just a hatchet job specifically designed to make the British people hate King Charles.
“And actually the reality is they’re not reacting the way Earl Spencer hoped they would.”