EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Earl Spencer 'to sue Gove over podcast Diana claim'

Undaunted by the complaints he has received from Piers Morgan about a factual error in Swan Song, his best-selling memoir, Earl Spencer has begun a legal action of his own.I can disclose that the uncle of Princes William and Harry has instructed m'learned friends over a podcast featuring former Cabinet minister Michael Gove.In the podcast produced by The Spectator magazine, of which Gove is editor, he discussed Charles Spencer's new book with assistant editor Madeline Grant, wife of a Church of England vicar.The pair made a series of claims about Lord Spencer, including that he was on 'bad terms' with his sister, Princess Diana, when she was killed in a car crash in 1997, and that he was 'monetising her death' by publishing the book.They also alleged that Spencer had refused Diana permission to stay with William and Harry at Althorp, his stately home in Northamptonshire. Spencer has demanded that the podcast be removed from The Spectator's website.His spokesman tells me: 'The Spectator's podcast claimed that in the summer of 1997 Diana asked her brother if she and her sons could stay with him to escape the Press, and that he said 'No' because the paparazzi would bother his family at Althorp.'That is untrue. She never asked to stay that summer.'She would not have done, as Althorp was open to the public throughout the summer months. But had she asked, he would have done everything possible to make it happen.'He added: 'Earl Spencer never turned his sister away. After her marriage broke down, and in line with police advice about her safety, he offered her a choice of a dozen homes on the Althorp estate, as well as Wormleighton Manor, the family's ancestral home.'Earl Spencer has asked The Spectator to correct the record. People are entitled to whatever opinion they like of his book – they are not entitled to invent how he treated his sister.'Gove declines to comment. Issy Knopfler, 28, is engaged to Sam Buchanan, 29, her co-star in the fantasy TV series The WayfindersIssy's found her RomeoDire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler has a real-life Romeo and Juliet on his hands – as his daughter Issy Knopfler is set to marry.The actress, 28, is engaged to Sam Buchanan, 29, her co-star in the fantasy TV series The Wayfinders.They confirmed their engagement by posting a photo of Issy holding up her left hand to reveal her pear-shaped diamond engagement ring. They captioned it with the date of their engagement: '02.10.2026.'The Spice Girls show no signs of reuniting, but that won't bother Victoria Beckham, 52, whose former pop career is still a steady earner. Posh Spice last performed with the group in 2012. However, Moody Productions, the firm she uses to channel her musical royalties, made a profit of £315,000 last year. Latest accounts reveal that it has net assets of £4.5million. Chelsy hotelier was dad material!Chelsy Davy has revealed why she married the hotelier Sam Cutmore-Scott rather than Prince Harry, who was in the year below him at Eton.'It wasn't that I suddenly developed some great romantic vision of settling down,' she writes online in a blog marking a decade of her jewellery brand, Aya. 'It was much more instinctive than that.'I met Sam and, for the first time, I knew I wanted a family, specifically with him.'Chelsy, 40, who was in an on-off relationship with Prince Harry for almost seven years until 2011, adds: 'I was also 35 by then, so I can't give Sam all the credit. Timing, and possibly biology, may have played their part.' Chelsy Davy has revealed why she married the hotelier Sam Cutmore-Scott rather than Prince HarryThe couple have had three children together – Leo, four, Chloe, two, and seven-month-old Finn. Chelsy adds: 'I had never organised my life around having children. I was very lucky that it was still possible.'She's visited war zones for her TV documentaries, but one destination left Stacey Dooley particularly disturbed.'I don't love Southampton,' says the 39-year-old Strictly winner, who starred there in the play 2:22 A Ghost Story. 'I heard two girls at the theatre slagging me off in the canteen, saying I wasn't speaking loud enough.'As if that wasn't bad enough, she adds: 'I found a hair in my fajita in a very mediocre restaurant.'Jeffrey Archer thanked Mail in last addressJeffrey Archer expressed his gratitude to the Daily Mail during his final public appearance.The best-selling author and former politician told an audience at the Leicester Square Theatre on Sunday about how this newspaper's celebrated editor of the time, David English, had helped him persuade The Beatles to join a £500,000 fundraising drive for Oxfam.Speaking on Sunday, the day before he died at 86, Lord Archer said he contacted the Fab Four's manager, Brian Epstein, recalling: 'He said, 'Come up to Liverpool.''So, I went to Liverpool and met The Beatles, and they agreed to come down to Oxford, and we raised some money.'Thanks to the Daily Mail and David English they came to Oxford.' Lily Allen says vaping simply makes her sad saying: 'I'm actually trying to give up vaping now, annoyingly. It's just not serving me any more'Lily's vaping habit runs out of steamLily Allen was 'delighted' to win a lucrative contract to advertise Vype e-cigarettes in 2019.Now, however, the 41-year-old Smile singer says vaping simply makes her sad, adding: 'I'm actually trying to give up vaping now, annoyingly. It's just not serving me any more.'Lily who had a bitter split from her second husband, Stranger Things star David Harbour, says: 'It's been a coping mechanism and a crutch for me, but I'm feeling in a pretty good place and I think I can get rid of it.'