When it comes to famous royal interviews, two stand out in particular.

 

The most recent of these was in 2019, when Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis grilled Prince Andrew about his friendship with paedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, leading to his effective dismissal from the Royal Family.

However, the most successful original interview was Princess Diana’s with BBC Panorama’s Martin Bashir, which aired on this day in November 1995.

It was watched by 20 million people and became famous when Diana revealed the secrets of her messy marriage to Charles, including the iconic line “there were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”

But in 2021, an investigation into the interview found that Bashir had used “deceptive behaviour” by falsifying documents to convince Diana to take part in the interview.

The findings prompted Prince William to make an unprecedented statement saying the video should never be aired again after creating a “false narrative for more than a quarter of a century.”

Here, MailOnline looks back at the scandal-plagued royal interview.

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Princess Diana’s interview with Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama aired on 20 November 1995.

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A 2021 investigation into the interview found that Bashir had used “deceptive behaviour” by falsifying documents to convince Diana to take part in the show.

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It was watched by 20 million people and became infamous when Diana revealed the secrets of her messy marriage to Charles, including the iconic line “there were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”

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William (pictured watching the women’s singles final at Wimbledon with Diana) was left breathless after watching the interview as a 13-year-old at Eton.

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Following the 2021 report, Prince William called for a boycott of the 1995 interview and criticised Bashir’s “false claims” that fuelled his mother’s “paranoia and isolation” during her final years.

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In the early 1990s, the disintegration of Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ marriage made headlines in Britain and was dubbed “The War of the Welsh.”

But things escalated in 1994 when Charles gave Jonathan Dimbleby an interview in which he acknowledged his relationship with Camilla.

“Is it true,” William had touchingly asked Diana after the revealing broadcast, “that Daddy never loved you?”

 

That interview has been seen as justification for Diana’s bizarre broadcast the following year, when she was determined to make her version of events known.

However, his decision to do the revealing interview with Bashir only came about through deception.

Hailed at the time as the scoop of a generation, Bashir had nevertheless woven a web of deceit to fool Diana and her brother, Earl Spencer, with absurd slander about senior royals in order to gain their trust.

He used fake bank statements and lied that MI6 had recorded Prince Charles planning the “end game” and that Prince William’s watch had been tapped, all designed to lure the vulnerable princess into his confidence.

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The only other royal interview to become as high-profile as Diana’s with Bashir in 1995 was in 2019, when Emily Maitlis grilled Prince Andrew about his friendship with paedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

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The front page of the Daily Mail the day after Princess Diana’s shocking Panorama interview in 1995

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Diana’s statement that “there were three of us at the wedding, so there were a lot of people” was widely covered by the press (Photo: Daily Mail coverage, 21 November 1995)

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Princess Diana, then Prince Charles and their children watch veterans as they march along The Mall as part of Victory in Japan Day commemorations in August 1995.

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Bashir used fake bank statements (pictured) and lied that MI6 had recorded Prince Charles planning the “end game” and that Prince William’s watch had been tapped – all designed to lure the vulnerable princess into his confidence.

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Press coverage at the time discussed the BBC’s botched “investigation” into Bashir.

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However, despite the accusations at the time, Bashir managed to dismiss claims that he had lied to get the interview as a smear campaign.

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Allegations that Bashir lied to get the interview were covered up by the BBC for 25 years

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The truth about Bashir’s dirty tricks only came to light after an official inquiry led by retired judge Lord Dyson in 2021.

However, despite the accusations at the time, Bashir managed to dismiss claims that he had lied to get the interview, saying it was a smear campaign to get him.

The BBC covered up the allegations for 25 years and the truth only came to light following an official inquiry led by retired judge Lord Dyson in 2021.

But the interview would leave a lasting scar on young Prince William.

The 13-year-old boy was not prepared for his mother to appear on national television and say, “Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him” about her extramarital boyfriend.

The groom in question was the handsome Captain James Hewitt, William and Harry’s riding instructor.

Royal expert Tina Brown was told Diana chose to speak out about Hewitt because he was the only one of her ex-lovers who was not married.

It was during this interview that the princess said: “There were three of us in the marriage so it was a bit crowded,” a reference to Charles’ romance with his now wife, Queen Camilla.

She spoke of her early expectations of living with Prince Charles and how she “desperately wanted it to work” in light of her own parents’ divorce.

Diana also spoke out about the health issues she had silently battled, including bulimia, postpartum depression and self-harm, leading others to label her as unstable and mentally unbalanced.

“It was a symptom of what was happening in my marriage,” Diana revealed to Panorama. “I was crying out for help, but I was giving the wrong signals.”

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Royal expert Tina Brown was told Diana chose to speak out about Hewitt because he was the only one of her ex-lovers who was not married.

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The groom in question was the handsome Captain James Hewitt (photographed at the Royal Berkshire Polo Club in 1991), William and Harry’s riding instructor.

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Princess Diana, Prince Harry, Prince William and Prince Charles on William’s first day at Eton in 1995, two months before the bombshell interview.

As well as admitting to her own extramarital affairs, Diana also suggested that Charles might not be fit for the throne.

“I think the top job, as I call it, would bring enormous limitations and I don’t know if she could adapt to that,” she said of her ex-husband.

The explosive 54-minute interview was the final nail in the coffin of the Waleses’ marriage and less than a month later divorce papers were filed on the advice of the Queen.

Although the interview also had an extraordinary impact on William, the implication apparently went unnoticed by young Harry, then just 11 years old.

Diana’s cascade of confessions and scathing insults added up to a maliciously crafted attack on her husband and her family – the father and family of her children.

Robert Lacy in his book Battle Of Brothers: William, Harry And The Inside Story Of A Family In Tumult, revealed how young William was shocked by the interview.

He wrote that Diana did not initially consider what impact it would have on the children, and according to Simone Simmons, the Princess’s confidante and healer, it took a phone call from William’s headmaster at Eton, Dr Andrew Gailey, to prompt Diana.

Gailey had read the advance publicity in the papers and called her to tell her that it was “imperative” that she go and explain things to William, face to face.

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Bashir later said in an email that there was “irritation” that “a second-generation immigrant from non-white working-class backgrounds had the temerity to enter a royal palace.”

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Bashir fell out of favour following the investigation into the interview and resigned from the BBC in May 2021, citing health reasons.

In another phone call from Gailey the following day, Simmons told Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of the royal magazine Majesty, that he did indeed order Diana to take the M4 motorway to speak to her son.

Diana had a brief encounter with William where she told him: “I didn’t want to take you by surprise.”

He then headed to Ludgrove, Harry’s prep school, half an hour away, to deliver the same message.

William went down to his headmaster’s study shortly before 8pm that Monday to sit alone and watch as the spinning Panorama globe and percussive music gave way to a close-up of his mother’s wide eyes as she fired off her barrage of embarrassing accusations.

Before the 58 minutes were up, William was crying, according to Robert Lacey.

Gailey told Diana that she found her son slumped on the couch, his eyes red from tears.

The Prince managed to compose himself and run to his room, but when Diana called the house an hour later, he refused to take her call.

He felt a mixture of humiliation and fury that she had denigrated his father and mentioned Hewitt.

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The Daily Mail’s front page on 3 November 2020 covered Diana’s brother’s claim that the BBC carried out a cover-up of the interview.

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It was eventually revealed that Martin Bashir carried out 32 smears to secure the interview with Diana.

 

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Martin Bashir’s long list of lies was finally exposed in the 2021 investigation

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The original Daily Mail story revealing Diana’s interview with Bashir was obtained after he forged documents.

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The Prince and Princess of Wales at Buckingham Palace after their wedding at Westminster Abbey on 29 July 1981

“He hated the idea of ​​everything being on television,” Simmons recalled, “and he knew his friends would make fun of him, which they did.

“He felt she made a fool of herself… and she made a fool of him, too.”

William was in a fragile state and was still in his first few weeks at Eton, which had a notorious bullying culture where prefects could pour a bucket of raw eggs and Worcestershire sauce over the heads of younger boys who made a mistake.

William later told a classmate that as soon as he saw his mother’s face appear on the screen for the interview, he felt great fear.

The scars on William’s back, from the poisonous crossfire he received from his parents as a schoolboy, appear to have stayed with him.

It was not until 2021 that an official inquiry led by retired judge Lord Dyson found that “Bashir seriously breached BBC rules by falsifying bank statements to gain access to the princess,” the BBC reported.

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In 2022, Netflix ignored Prince William’s pleas not to blow up the interview during The Crown’s fifth season into a two-episode bombshell (pictured)

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In his inquiry, Lord Dyson found that Bashir tricked Earl Spencer (pictured) into introducing the journalist to his sister by showing him fake bank statements which falsely suggested people were being paid to keep the princess under surveillance.

Prince William hits out at BBC over Panorama interview with Martin Bashir

Understandably horrified, Diana’s brother Earl Spencer was said to believe his vulnerable sister had been caught in a web of lies by Bashir, who had established a “coercive control” over her.

In his inquiry, Lord Dyson found that Bashir tricked Earl Spencer into introducing the journalist to his sister by showing him fake bank statements which falsely suggested people were being paid to keep the Princess under surveillance.

Full statement from Prince William following Dyson inquiry into Bashir interview in 2021

‘I would like to thank Lord Dyson and his team for the report. It is welcome that the BBC is fully accepting Lord Dyson’s findings, which are extremely worrying. BBC staff lied and used false documents to obtain the interview with my mother, made lurid and false claims about the Royal Family which played on her fears and fuelled paranoia, showed woeful incompetence in investigating complaints and concerns about the programme, and were evasive in their reporting to the media and covered up what they knew from their internal investigation.

‘In my opinion, the deceptive manner in which the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said. The interview greatly contributed to worsening my parents’ relationship and has since harmed countless people.

‘It makes me feel unspeakably sad to know that the BBC’s failings contributed significantly to the fear, paranoia and isolation I remember from those last years with her. But what saddens me most is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known she had been misled.

‘He was let down not only by a dishonest journalist but also by the BBC’s leaders who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions.

‘I firmly believe that this Panorama programme has no legitimacy and should never be broadcast again. It has effectively created a false narrative that has been marketed by the BBC and others for over a quarter of a century.

‘This established narrative must now be addressed by the BBC and anyone else who has written or intends to write about these events. In an age of fake news, public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important. These failings, identified by investigative journalists, have not only let my mother and family down, but the public too.’

Royal biographer Andrew Morton also claimed Bashir told Diana that security forces were planning to kill her. He said Bashir warned her: “They are going to annihilate you.”

It was also alleged that Diana was shown a “fake abortion receipt” which suggested Charles had been romantically involved with one of the royal nannies.

The report criticised BBC bosses, including former director-general Tony Hall, for covering up information about how Bashir was able to secure the interview.

In his defence, Bashir said criticism of the interview was based on racism due to his non-white status and “professional jealousy”.

The investigation plunged the corporation into one of the worst crises in its history, with Diana’s two sons, William and Harry, accusing her of ruining their mother’s life with her “misleading” interview and helping to trigger the tragic chain of events that led to her death two years later.

William gave a solemn speech in front of the cameras in which he could not completely hide the fury that still haunted him.

He complained: “This Panorama programme has no legitimacy and should never be broadcast again. It has effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been marketed by the BBC and others.”

‘Our mother was an incredible woman who dedicated her life to service. She was resilient, courageous and unquestionably honest.

Prince Harry added: “The domino effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately cost him his life.”

The BBC has since vowed not to show the interview again or give it to another broadcaster to use.

But it still casts a long shadow over the princes.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have come under fire for using elements of the interview in their explosive Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan, which aired in November 2022.

Halfway through the first episode of the series, clips of Princess Diana speaking to the journalist are shown.

Sources close to the Prince of Wales at the time said he would have been “furious” that his brother appeared to ignore his request that the Panorama interview never be aired again.

Before the clip is shown, Harry, speaking about his mother’s struggles with press intrusion, says: “I think she had a lived experience of how she was struggling to live that life. She felt compelled to talk about it.

“Especially in that Panorama interview. I think we all know now that she was tricked into giving the interview, but at the same time she told the truth about her experience.”

And in 2022, Netflix ignored Prince William’s pleas not to exploit the interview during the fifth season of The Crown in a two-episode bombshell.

Both brothers received letters of “unconditional apology” from the BBC for Bashir’s conduct and the 25-year cover-up.

Mr Bashir apologised for the forged documents, saying it was “a stupid act and an action I deeply regret”, but insisted that “the bank statements had no bearing on Princess Diana’s personal choice to take part in the interview”.

Royal expert Tina Brown wrote in her 2022 book The Palace Papers that Lord Dyson’s report exposing Bashir’s antics gave the two princes some justification for why their mother did something so destructive to their happiness.

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Gulu Lalvani (pictured in 1997) was the wealthy British-Pakistani businessman whom Diana briefly dated in the last year of her life. He said the princess was pleased with the interview.

But she maintains that she never really regretted doing the interview, although she was never aware of the dishonesty in Bashir’s approach.

Royal writer Tina Brown claims she would watch it even if she hadn’t been duped by disgraced BBC man Martin Bashir.

Gulu Lalvani, the wealthy British-Pakistani businessman whom Diana briefly dated in the last year of her life, told Tina Brown that the Princess said in July 1997 that she was pleased with the interview.

She said she had nothing bad to say about Martin Bashir and she realised that served her purpose.

This allowed her to present herself to the British public as a betrayed woman, ahead of the increasingly inevitable divorce from Charles.

Opinion polls conducted after the interview showed that 92 percent of voters supported the princess. “She had the public in the palm of her hand,” Brown writes.

Despite Diana’s pragmatic reasons for doing the interview, her children appear to have been unable to forgive the BBC for its behaviour regarding the Bashir saga.