‘The BBC’s lies fuelled my mother’s paranoia’
William condemns the BBC for its ‘lies’ over Diana’s 1995 interview while Harry says it contributed to her death.
Prince William condemned the BBC for its “lies” in securing his mother’s interview with Martin Bashir, which he said stoked her paranoia and contributed to the breakdown of her marriage.
The unprecedented rebuke followed publication of a report which concluded that the former Panorama reporter had used “deceitful behaviour” to induce Diana, Princess of Wales, to agree to the 1995 interview.
William, 38, said that the interview “was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others”.
In a broadcast statement he said: “It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her.”
He said that the BBC “not only let my mother down, and my family down; they let the public down too”.
Prince Harry, 36, joined his brother’s condemnation of the media’s treatment of their mother saying that “the ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life”.
He added: “What deeply concerns me is that practices like these — and even worse — are still widespread today . . . Our mother lost her life because of this and nothing has changed.”
A statement on today’s report of The Dyson Investigation pic.twitter.com/uS62CNwiI8
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) May 20, 2021
The BBC sent letters of apology to the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex and Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, after publication of the report by Lord Dyson, a former master of the rolls.
Dyson, who had been asked by the BBC to examine the allegations, found Bashir’s “deceitful behaviour” in obtaining the interview was a “serious breach” of the broadcaster’s guidelines. He criticised an internal investigation into the wrongdoing headed by Lord Hall of Birkenhead, who went on to become director-general of the BBC, and found the broadcaster covered up Bashir’s deceit. Dyson ruled that the investigation had been “flawed and woefully ineffective” while the cover-up by the BBC “fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark”.
Earl Spencer told the BBC last night (Thursday) that he “draws a line” from the paranoia created by Bashir’s lies to the death of his sister two years later in a car crash.
Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, said that the Dyson review had shown “damning failings at the heart of the BBC”. He warned that there could be further governance reforms of the corporation in the mid-term charter review, scheduled for next spring.
“I welcome the fact that the new leadership launched this independent inquiry and expect them to ensure that this can never happen again,” he said.
Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, described the findings as a “dark day” for the broadcaster and said it was for the police to consider if they should open a criminal investigation.
The broadcaster has returned all the awards received for the interview, including a Bafta. The Diana interview made Bashir a star after an audience of almost 23 million watched her reveal intimate details of her life including the comment that there were “three of us in this marriage” in reference to Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
Dyson found Bashir had “deceived and induced” Earl Spencer to arrange a meeting with Diana to persuade her to agree to the interview. “This behaviour was in serious breach of the 1993 edition of the BBC’s producer guidelines on straight dealing,” he added.
Bashir had faked documents purporting to show payments to Spencer’s former head of security, Commander Patrick Jephson, Diana’s private secretary, and Commander Richard Aylard, private secretary to the Prince of Wales. The documents fuelled Diana’s belief that she was being spied on and led to her cutting herself off from royal aides.
Her brother said: “This is a young girl in her mid-30s who has lived this extraordinarily turbulent and difficult time in the public eye. She didn’t know who to trust and in the end, when she died two years later, she was without any form of real protection.”
Lord Birt, director-general at the time of the interview, said the BBC had “harboured a rogue reporter on Panorama who fabricated an elaborate, detailed but wholly false account of his dealings with Earl Spencer and Princess Diana. This is a shocking blot on the BBC’s enduring commitment to honest journalism; and it is a matter of the greatest regret that it has taken 25 years for the full truth to emerge.”
Bashir, who resigned as the BBC’s religion editor last week citing health grounds, said in a statement that he had apologised for asking for the bank statements to be “mocked-up”.
“It was a stupid thing to do and was an action I deeply regret,” he said.
Lord Hall, who is now chairman of the National Gallery, admitted he had fallen short of what was required and that he had been “wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt”.
A BBC spokesman said the letters to members of the royal family state that Bashir “employed lies and fake documents to gain access” to Diana.
With David Sanderson, Steven Swinford
THE TIMES
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