The Martin Bashir-Princess Diana interview controversy explained

Large part of the The crown series five leads to Martin Bashir’s famous interview with Princess Diana. Earlier in the series, we see Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) secretly telling her story by recording tapes and passing them through her friend to writer Andrew Morton. Morton used these tapes as the basis for Diana, Her True Story, the tell-all book that sent the royal family into a tailspin when it was released in 1992.

However, three years later – following Diana’s split from Prince Charles – she lifted the curtain even further with the BBC Panorama TV interview with the journalist Bashir. The interview went down in history not only because of Diana’s comments (“There were three of us in this marriage”) but also because of the attraction the princess possessed; an estimated 200 million people from over 100 countries have tuned in, and the BBC has called it “the scoop of a generation”.

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For Diana then, it had the desired effect. It revealed her perspective to a wider audience: how she had been silenced from discussing the terrible things that had happened in her marriage, as part of the royal family, and more importantly, before being granted a full divorce with an allegedly onerous NDA.

But in 2020, a BBC investigation into Bashir alleged that he had used fake bank statements of Earl Charles Spencer – Diana’s brother – to gain his trust and secure the interview, and the BBC director-general was forced to apologise. But what happened in this controversial interview, and why was it investigated nearly two decades after it took place?

The interview

On November 5, 1992 Panorama team and Martin Bashir appeared at Kensington Palace, Diana’s home at the time, to begin the interview. With the princess dressed in a black suit with a skirt, the 54-minute tete-a-tete was surprisingly candid. Diana revealed she suffered from postnatal depression after William’s birth, which led to her being labeled by others in the monarchy as “mentally unstable”. As a result, she said, she began self-harming and suffered from bulimia, both exacerbated by Charles’ affair with Camilla and the standout line: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”

She confirmed that she had a relationship with James Hewitt and confirmed that the Squidgygate records were of her and James Gilby, but denied any sexual relationship with him. Diana also spoke of her fears about the power of the royal family and that they saw her as “some sort of threat”, but added, “every strong woman in history has had to walk a similar path and I think that’s the power that causes the confusion and the fear .” She added that she did not want a divorce and that she did not think she would ever be queen, but that she wanted to be “queen of the people’s hearts, in the people’s hearts”, which foreshadowed her death in 1997. which became her legacy.

The scandal

According to Tina Brown in Vanity Fair, tormented the young princes with the broadcast. William was apparently “overwhelmed with a sense of dread” while Harry initially refused to look at him.

It was all consigned to pop culture history until the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2020, and with it a resurgence of interest in the princess and documentaries about her.

Once such a documentary, ITV’s The Diana Interview: A Princess’s Revengeclaims that acc Diversity“Bashir may have used fake bank documents that may have helped gain access to the princess … at the center of the storm is graphic designer Matt Wiessler.” Wiessler has since said he was asked to create the documents by Bashir and was “scapegoated” by a 1996 BBC inquiry into the interview, which was called after complaints to the broadcaster.

Another documentary, on Channel 4 Diana: The truth behind the interview, saw journalist Andy Webb receive a Freedom of Information request which showed the fake documents claimed two senior courtiers were being paid by the security services for information about Diana and pushed the idea that she was being watched and spied on. It was these documents that apparently led Earl Spencer to introduce Bashir to his sister.

At the time in 2020, Bashir said he was too ill with Covid and a heart bypass to respond to these claims, but in November 2020 the BBC ordered an independent investigation into the event. At that time, as reported by BBCPrince William said it was a “step in the right direction”.

Daily Telegraph reported that Bashir had been interviewed about allegations that he had made allegations about the royal family to secure the interview with Diana, and Earl Spencer presented notes from a meeting. These notes wrongly suggested that “Prince Edward was being treated for AIDS in a London hospital; the queen had a heart problem and was about to abdicate; and that Prince Charles had a ‘crush’ on his children’s nanny and went on holiday with her… Prince Charles is also said to have given his son Prince William, then 13, a ‘special gift’ of a ‘bleep Swatch,” concluding that the Swiss-made watch contained a listening device. However, Bashir claims that the source of these statements was misattributed to him and it was Diana who mentioned this, as “she spoke to mystics and seers who gave her the false information… and that the Queen was going to abdicate.” “

Bashir left his post at the BBC in 2021, shortly before the results of the inquiry were dropped: it found Bashir guilty of fraud and breach of BBC editorial conduct to obtain the interview. Tim Davey, the director general of the BBC, apologized for the “deceptive tactics” used by the corporation and said: “If we had done our job properly, Princess Diana would have known the truth in her lifetime. We have let her down, the royal family and our audience… I have decided that the BBC will never show the program again; nor will we license it in whole or in part to other distributors.’

Both princes released their statement on the investigation’s findings; William said the lies surrounding the staged interview further fueled her feelings of “fear, paranoia and isolation” and said it should never be broadcast again. Harry added that the “ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices” was one of the reasons for his mother’s untimely death.

Bashir also released a statement explaining his “deep regret” for the false statements, but added: “the bank statements have nothing to do with Princess Diana’s personal choice to participate in the interview.” In an interview with Sunday Times he clarified, “Everything we did in terms of the interview was as she wanted,” and he believed he had not hurt Diana “in any way.”

The BBC later returned all the awards they had won for the interview (including the Bafta) and donated the sum of £1.4 millionthe amount they made from syndication and licensing to seven charities Diana had previously supported.