After an investigation into the background of the interview by BBC reporter Martin Bashir with Princess Diana, the broadcaster apologizes to the British royal house.
London – Never before had a member of the Royal Family spoken so openly as Princess Diana in front of the BBC cameras. In an interview with reporter Martin Bashir, it was about her eating disorder, the unhappy marriage to Prince Charles and the respective affairs. One point against the relationship between her husband, who was still in 1995, and his former lover and today’s second wife, Camilla, stuck in the collective memory: “There were three of us in this marriage” Diana admitted bluntly at the time – it was one for the British royal family Scandal.
For Princess Diana, the interview brought great public sympathy, but also great pressure from reporters and paparazzi, who are ultimately also to blame for their accidental death less than two years after the interview. The interview is also said to have tipped the balance at the time that the still reigning Queen Elizabeth II called on the heir to the throne couple to divorce. Diana and Charles’ marriage officially ended in July 1996.
Fake bank statements: BBC interview with Princess Diana was fraudulently according to the investigation report
After an extensive investigation into how the interview had come about, reporter Bashir and the BBC had to apologize to the British royal family and the relatives of Princess Diana. The investigation report concludes that the reporter’s actions were “insidious” because Bashir, who contacted Diana’s brother Earl Spencer, had falsified facts with falsified bank statements. The bank statements were supposed to prove that employees at the British royal family would have been paid to spy on the princess.
The judge responsible now described this procedure as “contrary to all guidelines of the BBC”. The fact that the station tried to cover up the circumstances of the interview in the following year is far from the “high standards of integrity and transparency to which the station is committed”.
Princess Diana’s sons level allegations against the BBC
Members of the royal family have also spoken out after the results of the investigation became known: Prince William, for example, accused the station, according to information from the AFP news agency, that the station’s failure in its supervisory function led to the “fear, paranoia and isolation” of his mother in her last Years of life “contributed significantly”. He demanded that the BBC interview with Princess Diana, whose statements had been influenced by the reporter’s insidiousness, should never be re-broadcast.
Princess Diana’s youngest son, Prince Harry, who emigrated to the United States with his wife Meghan in early 2020 and who recently criticized the British royal family on several occasions, emphasized that the fraudulent practices of journalist Martin Bashir played a role in the interview Death of his mother: “The wave-like effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took their lives.” (Sandra Kathe)
Picture list: © Johnny Eggitt / dpa
