Princess Diana's 1995 BBC Panorama interview sent shockwaves through Britain and around the world for its unvarnished look at one of the most popular women in the world and her life behind palace walls.
The latest season of Netflix's The Crown recreates the interview which the BBC said it will never air again after an investigation found the interviewer, Martin Bashir, had engaged in "deceitful behaviour."
Speaking to journalist Bashir (played by Prasanna Puwanarajah in the show), in one of the biggest scoops of the century, Diana discussed her mental health struggles, experiences with eating disorders and—importantly—her uneasy position within the royal family, over 54 minutes in a primetime slot on Britain's national broadcaster.
The famous statement made by the princess, and one of the most damaging to the reputation of her then-husband Prince Charles, now King Charles III, assessed her marriage in the context of the prince's ongoing affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
When asked if Camilla was a factor in the breakdown of her marriage, Diana delivered the line that would become an enduring soundbite: "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
The interview was watched by an estimated 23 million people in the U.K. on November 20, 1995, and is reported to have provoked Queen Elizabeth II into writing to both Diana and Charles with the advice that they formally divorce.
As early as 1996, questions were being raised within the BBC about the interview and just how the relatively inexperienced Bashir secured the exclusive sit-down with the reticent royal, without the knowledge of Buckingham Palace.
These questions did not resurface for over 20 years when a full-scale inquiry concluded in May 2021 that "deceitful" practices were employed in attempts to convince the princess to collaborate with Panorama.
These revelations were met with embarrassment and, in some cases, anger. One public figure who issued the strongest condemnation of Bashir and the BBC over the way the interview's was obtained was Diana's own son, Prince William.
How Did Prince William React to Princess Diana's BBC Panorama Interview in 1995?
There are a number of accounts of how Prince William reacted to his mother's bombshell interview with Martin Bashir, detailing his hurt and embarrassment.
The broadcast took place just two months into his first term at a new school, Eton College.
Author Tina Brown wrote in her book The Palace Papers that Diana traveled to the school the day before the interview was shown to warn her eldest son, pulling him "behind a hedge" out of view of the paparazzo Mark Saunders.
Saunders, Brown wrote, described how "after a few moments, [William] walked away from Diana making no attempt to kiss her or say goodbye. I watched in amazement as she got into the car and drove off, leaving a sad William watching from the doorway."
After her death, the princess' psychic and friend, Simone Simmons, wrote that Diana had confided in her William's reaction at Kensington Palace.
In Diana: The Last Word, Simmons wrote: "William's reaction devastated her. He wouldn't speak to her afterwards and when he came home all hell broke loose.
"He was furious that she hadn't told him she was going to do it...He felt she had made a fool of herself and of him...
"He was so angry with her," Simmons claimed, "he started shouting and crying and, when she tried to put her arms around him, he shoved her away."
Despite this initial outburst, Simmons wrote that the next morning the prince "came to her bedroom and presented her with a bunch of flowers."
William did not speak of the interview publicly for two decades.
What Was the Lord Dyson Inquiry?
The Lord Dyson inquiry was an independent investigation commissioned by the BBC into the Panorama interview with Princess Diana, following allegations that Martin Bashir had presented the royal with falsified documents to get her to agree to the interview.
Allegations had first been made in 1996 that Bashir had ordered a BBC freelance graphic designer to create fake bank statements detailing payments from news agencies to staff members of Diana to show her brother Earl Spencer, who introduced the reporter to his sister.
While the initial concerns were not made public, however, they resurfaced ahead of the interview's 25th anniversary in 2020.
The BBC commissioned Lord Dyson to conduct a full investigation into the allegations made against Bashir who had been given a job as the broadcaster's religion editor.
In 2021, the former judge of the Supreme Court of the U.K. published a damning 127-page report which found Bashir had engaged in "deceitful behaviour" toward Diana's brother by showing him fake bank statements to bring about an introduction to the princess, and that in doing this, the journalist was able to "persuade her to agree to give the interview."
The BBC issued a full apology and paid damages to those affected.
Following the publication of Lord Dyson's report, Bashir apologized in a statement for using fake bank statements. He said: "It was a stupid thing to do and was an action I deeply regret. But I absolutely stand by the evidence I gave a quarter of a century ago, and again more recently. I also reiterate that the bank statements had no bearing whatsoever on the personal choice by Princess Diana to take part in the interview."
Bashir had resigned from the BBC shortly prior to the report being published, citing health reasons.
What Did Prince William Say About Martin Bashir?
Prince William responded to the publication of Lord Dyson's findings with an unprecedented 2021 statement issued in person, on camera, outside Diana's former apartment at Kensington Palace.
He said:
I would like to thank Lord Dyson and his team for the report.
It is welcome that the BBC accepts Lord Dyson's findings in full—which are extremely concerning—that BBC employees:
- lied and used fake 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;
- displayed woeful incompetence when 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.
It is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said. The interview was a major contribution to making my parents' relationship worse and has since hurt countless others.
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.
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 that she had been deceived. She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions.
It is my firm view that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others.
This settled narrative now needs to be addressed by the BBC and anyone else who has written or intends to write about these events.
In an era of fake news, public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important. These failings, identified by investigative journalists, not only let my mother down, and my family down; they let the public down too.
Season 5 of The Crown is available to stream on Netflix from November 9.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
