An Investigation Has Determined That Martin Bashir Tricked Princess Diana Into Her 1995 Interview

Back in November 1995, several million people spent 54 minutes with their eyes glued to their television sets when the BBC aired an exclusive one-on-one interview with Princess Diana on the news series Panorama. The interview was conducted by journalist Martin Bashir, and it’s where we learned everything the Royal Family didn’t want you to know about Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles, like that it was an awful, miserable time for Diana (they had been legally separated for three years by the time of the interview). That Panorama interview also gave us Diana’s iconic quote about there being “three of us” in their marriage (aka Charles, Diana, and Duchess Camilla). It was a super-secret interview that shocked everyone, and probably had a whole lot of people wondering how Martin Bashir convinced her to agree to such a public dragging of her very famous husband. Well, after a long investigation, it has been decided that Martin Bashir wasn’t exactly honest with Diana when he was trying to land the gig of the century.

25 years after the broadcast of Diana’s interview for Panorama, ITV released a documentary all about it called The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess. In it, ITV alleged that Martin Bashir doctored bank statements to help coerce Diana into telling all to him. Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, claimed that the fake bank statements were reportedly used to convince Diana that confidants in her inner circle were actually spies, which allegedly helped convince her to tell her story. A 1996 internal investigation at the BBC determined that the bank statements had “no bearing” on the interview, while Charles Spencer continued to accuse the BBC and Martin Bashir of “sheer dishonesty.” The faked bank statements were given by Martin, to Charles, who then gave them to Diana. The BBC was repeatedly accused of getting that interview through shady means, and they opened a second investigation last year (a move that was publicly supported by both Charles Spencer and Prince William).

That internal, third-party investigation wrapped up earlier today, and the results state that yes, those faked bank statements were not a good move. A report put together by former High Court judge Lord John Dyson was released this morning, and it accuses Martin Bashir of breaching the BBC’s editorial guidelines, by creating two faked bank statements with the intent to manipulate the situation. via People:

“The use of deceit in making factual programs would have been permissible only in the case of investigating serious crime…and where prima facie evidence of the guilt of that person being investigated had already been obtained,” Richard Ayre, the BBC’s controller of editorial policy in 1995, told The Daily Telegraph Thursday. “Those circumstances clearly don’t apply to an interview with the Princess of Wales. It would not have been acceptable to use significant deceit in this case.”

The BBC’s Director-General Tim Davie released a statement on Lord Dyson’s findings, and they accept it, but they also kind of implied that bank statements or not, Diana was going to do the interview anyway:

“I would like to thank Lord Dyson. His report into the circumstances around the 1995 interview is both thorough and comprehensive. The BBC accepts Lord Dyson’s findings in full. Although the report states that Diana, Princess of Wales, was keen on the idea of an interview with the BBC, it is clear that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. We are very sorry for this. Lord Dyson has identified clear failings.”

Lord Dyson also acknowledged that Diana probably would have agreed to the interview regardless, but with a different BBC journalist, likely an older journalist with a bit more experience (Martin Bashir was 32 at the time of the interview). But, Lord Dyson added that the bank statements were clearly used by Martin for manipulation. Martin Bashir released a statement, apologizing for the faked bank statements, but added that he was still extremely proud of that Panorama interview. Martin Bashir quit his job at the BBC last month, reportedly to deal with health issues.

And according to reports, Kensington Palace has confirmed that the BBC has sent an apology to Prince William. It’s not known if they have done the same for Prince Harry.

The BBC has written to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge to apologise for the Panorama interview with his mother, @KensingtonRoyal has confirmed. pic.twitter.com/RYKjsnl1kq

— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) May 20, 2021

The next season of The Crown will reportedly jump forward in time to the 90s, and you don’t need a crystal ball to guess that they’ll probably dedicate an entire episode or two to Diana’s interview. I know that some British types really, really want a disclaimer added to The Crown that explicitly states it’s a work of creative fiction. But Netflix has been adamant that they will do no such thing. In fact, nobody should be surprised if they add a disclaimer to a couple of episodes that reads: “This happened, 100%. Lord Dyson said so.”

Pic: BBC