Journalist Piers Morgan has made a number of controversial statements about the Royal Family over the years, especially Meghan Markle. Although he's left the mainstream media to host his own YouTube show, there was a time when Morgan was reporting on Princess Diana as the then-editor of the News of the World. His tenure at the publication has been marred by scandal after Prince Harry claimed Morgan "knew about, encouraged and concealed" illegal targeting of Diana (via the Guardian). But in a new interview, the journalist claims the late princess would "manipulate the media ruthlessly."
Morgan—who left Good Morning Britain after he made offensive comments about the Duchess of Sussex in 2021—appeared on the "Him & Her Show" podcast this week. In the wide-ranging interview, Morgan shared some insights on what it was like working with Princess Diana in the '90s.
"I used to have lunch with Diana, I used to talk to her on the phone quite regularly," Morgan said. He described the late princess as "mesmerizing," calling her "incredibly charming, very smart, very funny." Allegedly, Diana was so involved in her press coverage that Morgan "used to send her stories that we were going to run and she would edit them and fax them back" to him.
"That's not to say that there wasn't lots of intrusion into her life," Morgan continued. "There was. It's not to say that some of that wasn't unwarranted. It was."
"But did Diana manipulate the media ruthlessly when she wanted to? Absolutely," the journalist claimed.
Calling Princess Diana "very sharp," the media personality said there were times when he obtained photos or information that he didn't publish, such as one about a marijuana-related poster that allegedly hung on Prince William's wall at Eton College. The late princess "wanted to prove there was a line" when it came to the press, he added.
While it's well known that the late princess worked closely with members of the media over the course of her royal career and followed her press coverage obsessively, her death was, after all, caused by a paparazzi chase through Paris.
However, even though Morgan admitted "it can't have been easy at all" for the princess when it came to the level of press interest she dealt with, he seemed to place some level of blame on Diana and the Royal Family themselves. "Diana worked the media exactly the same way the media worked Diana," he said.
"I'm not after any gratitude, but I do think in the scales of balance between the media and the Royal Family, the media has been as much a part of the longevity of the Royal Family when many other monarchies have disappeared through Europe," Morgan continued, adding, "The media still fuel [the royals] and portray them as the biggest stars on the planet."
