An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales

Diana in 1995, the year the interview was recorded

Kensington Palace, the site of the interview

The interview was held in Diana's sitting room in Kensington Palace on 5 November 1995, the room later became Prince William and Harry's playden.[2][8][9] The camera and recording equipment had been bought into the palace under the pretence of a new hi-fi system.[9] In addition to Bashir, Panorama producer Mike Robinson and a cameraman, Tony Poole, were also present.[2] To ensure the secrecy of the interview, the final transmission tape was kept under constant surveillance and security guards were present during its editing. In the week following the recording of the interview, the BBC's controller of editorial policy, Richard James Ayre, the head of weekly television current affairs programmes Tim Gardam, and Panorama editor Steve Hewlett, watched the interview at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.[2]

The Board of Governors of the BBC were deliberately kept unaware of the interview by Panorama executives and the Director-General of the BBC, John Birt. The chairman of the board of governors, Marmaduke Hussey, was married to Lady Susan Hussey, a confidant of Queen Elizabeth II and the queen's Woman of the bedchamber. It was feared that the interview may have been discredited ahead of broadcast or possibly never shown if Hussey had been aware.[9] The official royal liaison person between the BBC and the British royal family, Jim Moir, was also kept unaware.[2] The film director David Puttnam had advised Diana against the interview and subsequently said that he would "never forgive John Birt for not explaining to Diana the implications of what she was doing and for not alerting [Marmaduke] Hussey".[9]

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother brought forward the date of an operation on her hip to the week of the broadcast of the interview with the expectation that should she die, Diana's interview would receive substantially less coverage in the media. Ironically, some derogatory comments about the queen mother from the princess, were removed from the final cut.[10][11]

Diana spoke of her early expectations of the marriage and how she "desperately wanted it to work" in light of her own parents divorce. The constant presence of the media and their focus on her led her to perceive herself as a "good product that sits on the shelf...and people make a lot of money out of you". The effect of the initial trip to Australia and New Zealand in 1983 was that she returned as "...a different person, I released the sense of duty...and the demanding role I now found myself in". She was uncomfortable with being the centre of attention over her husband and had found an affinity with people who'd been "rejected by society". Diana felt enormous relief at her pregnancy with William but subsequently suffered post natal depression and how her depression led her to be labelled by others as unstable and mentally unbalanced. Diana began self harming and became bulimic which intensified following Charles's resumption of his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. She said that "there were three of us in this marriage" in reference to her husband's relationship with Parker Bowles. Diana felt compelled to perform her role as Princess of Wales and her behaviour had led friends of Charles to indicate "that I was again unstable and sick and should be put in a home of some sort...I was almost an embarrassment". She never met Andrew Morton but allowed her friends to speak to him and the subsequent book, Diana: Her True Story bought Diana and Charles's turbulent relation to a head and the couple agreed to a legal separation. She but denied having an affair with James Gilbey. Diana confirmed the accuracy of the Squidgygate tapes of her and Gilbey's telephone conversation. She denied harassing Oliver Hoare and said that she was in a unique position as the separated wife of the Prince of Wales as "she won't go quietly that's the problem. I'll fight to the end, because I have a role to fulfil and I've got two children to bring up". She confirmed her extramarital affair with James Hewitt and was hurt at his cooperation for a book about their relationship. Diana spoke of her difficulty at coping with constant media attention which became "abusive and it's harassment". Diana spoke of her wish to be an ambassador for the United Kingdom. On the future of the monarchy she said that "I do think that there are a few things that could change, that would alleviate this doubt, and sometimes complicated relationship between monarchy and public. I think they could walk hand in hand, as opposed to be so distant". She showed William and Harry homelessness projects and met people dying of AIDS. Diana said it was not her wish to divorce but did not think she would ever be queen but wanted to be a "queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being Queen of this country. I don't think many people will want me to be Queen". The royal household saw her as a "threat of some kind" but that "every strong woman in history has had to walk down a similar path, and I think it's the strength that causes the confusion and the fear". When asked if the Prince of Wales would ever be king, Diana said "I don't think any of us know the answer to that. And obviously it's a question that's in everybody's head. But who knows, who knows what fate will produce, who knows what circumstances will provoke?" and that "There was always conflict on that subject with him when we discussed it, and I understood that conflict, because it's a very demanding role, being Prince of Wales, but it's an equally more demanding role being King".[12][13]

John Birt subsequently wrote in his memoirs that "In effect the Diana interview marked the end of the BBC's institutional reverence - though not its respect - for the monarchy". Birt had previously liased with Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes and Robin Janvrin while negotiating the BBC's access to the British royal family and wrote that he "had been sorry to hurt such good people".[9] The BBC subsequently lost its sole production of the Queen's Royal Christmas Message in the wake of the interview, though Buckingham Palace denied that it was the reason, saying the new arrangements "reflect the composition of the television and radio industries today".[14][15][11]

In Simon Heffer's opinion, by going public about her marital issues, Diana's only purpose was "to manipulate public opinion ruthlessly, and to cause whatever damage she could to her husband and his family".[16] Sarah Bradford believed Diana was a "victim of her own poor judgment" as she lost social privilege by doing the Panorama interview.[17] However, according to former BBC Royal Correspondent, Jennie Bond, Diana told Bond in late 1996, she did not regret the interview. She is reported to have said: "suddenly it seemed right, particularly with a divorce on the horizon. I thought that would mean a gagging clause. And I felt it was then or never."[18]

In November 2020, 25 years after the interview, the BBC director general Tim Davie apologised to Earl Spencer, the brother of the princess, for the use of fake bank statements falsely indicating people close to her had been paid for spying.[19][7] The fake bank statements had been created by one of the corporation's freelance graphic designers, Matt Wiessler. However a 1996 internal BBC investigation concluded that the fake documents were not used to secure the interview and cleared Bashir of any wrongdoing. The inquiry, following a Mail on Sunday account of the falsified documents,[20] was headed by Tony Hall, who later became BBC director-general and was succeeded by Tim Davie in 2020. Hall acknowledged having never interviewed Matt Wiessler for the 1996 internal inquiry.[21] Wiessler said in 2020 that work dried up for him after the 1996 inquiry cleared Bashir, and said he had been made the scapegoat.[22]

Earl Spencer, another individual who was not interviewed in 1996, rejected the apology and demanded an inquiry.[23] Spencer told Davie he possessed records of all his contacts with Bashir which apparently imply the journalist told the princess false information to gain her trust.[19] He said that Bashir had made false and defamatory claims about senior members of the royal family and, without the faked documents, would not have introduced Bashir to his sister. Davie announced on 9 November the corporation was in the process of commissioning an independent inquiry.[24] Michael Grade, a former chairman of the BBC, said that the allegations left "a very dark cloud hanging over BBC journalism".[7][24]

At the time of the revelations about his interview with the princess, Bashir was seriously ill from the after effects of COVID-19 and was recuperating after undergoing quadruple heart bypass surgery. He has not responded to enquires.[22] The BBC has said Bashir's ill health has impaired its ability to investigate the controversy any further until his recovery.[25] The Daily Mirror published a photo of Bashir taken on 6 November with the headline "Martin Bashir visits takeaway after BBC says he's 'too ill' to respond to Princess Diana claims".[26]

On 13 November 2020, it was reported that the BBC had found the note from the Princess of Wales which cleared Bashir of pressuring her to give the interview.[27] The former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond wrote in The Sunday Times the princess told Bond she did not regret the broadcast in a private meeting in late 1996. Diana said she feared a gagging order in her imminent divorce settlement, meaning it might be her only chance to give an interview.[28]

On 18 November 2020, the BBC announced an independent investigation into how the interview was obtained, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge John Dyson.[29][30] The following day, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge released a statement supporting the inquiry, saying that the investigation was a "step in the right direction" and that "it should help establish the truth behind the actions that led to the Panorama interview and subsequent decisions taken by those in the BBC at the time."[31]

Bashir and Robinson were the recipients of the BAFTA Award for Best Talk Show at the 1996 British Academy Television Awards for their work on the interview.[32] Bashir also won the Factual or Science Based Programme of the Year from the Television and Radio Industries Club, TV Journalist of the Year from the Broadcasting Press Guild, and Journalist of the Year from the Royal Television Society.[33][34][35]

• BBC News - Transcipt of the interview