London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

BBC says it will hold 'robust' inquiry into Princess Diana interview

BBC says it will hold 'robust' inquiry into Princess Diana interview

The head of Britain’s BBC said on Monday the corporation would hold an inquiry into how the broadcaster secured a famous 1995 interview with the late Princess Diana, amid accusations from her brother she had been tricked into taking part.

During the interview, which was watched by more than 20 million viewers in Britain, Diana shocked the nation by admitting to an affair and giving details of her failed marriage to heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles.

“The BBC is taking this very seriously and we want to get to the truth,” Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general said in a statement about Spencer’s claims. “We are in the process of commissioning a robust and independent investigation.”

This month, her brother Charles Spencer said the BBC had failed to apologise for what he said were forged documents and “other deceit” which led him to introduce journalist Martin Bashir to Diana.

The Daily Mail has also published what it said were notes Spencer took during a meeting with Bashir and Diana in 1995, in which the newspaper says the journalist made a series of allegations in an attempt to obtain the interview.

These included claims Diana was being bugged by the security services, that two senior aides were being paid to provide information about her, and that Bashir had provided faked bank statements to back this up.

Bashir has not commented on the matter. Reuters has been unable to contact him.

The BBC says the journalist, who gained global renown from the Diana interview and is currently the corporation’s religious affairs correspondent, was currently on sick leave, recovering from heart surgery and from contracting COVID-19.


UNHAPPY MARRIAGE


Spencer has demanded an apology from the BBC and an independent inquiry into how Bashir obtained the interview with Diana, saying he had been excluded from a 1996 internal BBC investigation. The BBC says it has apologised for the faked statements.

In his Twitter posts on Sunday, Spencer said he knew Bashir had used fake bank statements and other dishonesty to obtain the Diana interview but said “what I only found out 2 weeks ago ... is that the BBC also knew. Not only knew about it, but that they covered it up.”

His assertion came after the release of documents from the BBC following requests under the Freedom of Information Act from a journalist who had been researching the interview.

The Panorama interview was Diana’s first public comments about her doomed union with Charles, although author Andrew Morton said she secretly cooperated with his 1992 book which first revealed how she was trapped in an unhappy marriage.

Her comment to Bashir that “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” - a reference to Charles rekindling his relationship with his now second wife Camilla - was particularly damaging to her husband.

The couple divorced in 1996 and she was killed aged 36 in a car crash in Paris the following year.

Former BBC chairman Michael Grade said the issue was “a very, very serious matter” for the publicly-funded broadcaster.

“For the BBC to be faking documents in the interests of getting a scoop raises very serious questions,” he told BBC radio. “The BBC needs to clean this up once and for all.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×