London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Princess Diana's brother makes new BBC interview allegations

Princess Diana's brother makes new BBC interview allegations

Princess Diana's brother has made new allegations about how the BBC gained his trust and access to his sister prior to her 1995 Panorama interview.

Notes Charles Spencer says he made at the time of a meeting he held with Martin Bashir suggest the Panorama reporter made a number of false and defamatory claims about senior royals.



The BBC has promised an inquiry if new evidence is presented.

Bashir, 57, is seriously unwell and is unable to respond to the allegations.

This week, Earl Spencer called for a BBC inquiry over faked bank statements he says helped secure his sister's interview with Panorama.

Almost 23 million people tuned in to watch the programme.

In it, the princess famously said "there were three of us in this marriage", referring to the Prince of Wales's relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles.

At the time, Princess Diana was separated from Prince Charles but not yet divorced.

The BBC's royal correspondent, Jonny Dymond, said the notes Earl Spencer says he made with Bashir two months before the interview, reported by the Daily Mail, are "astonishing".

They appear to record Bashir "spinning lie after lie about members of the Royal Family, and its staff, in an attempt, Earl Spencer says, to win his trust and that of his sister, Diana" our correspondent said.

These claims, described by the Mail as "preposterous lies", include that Diana's private correspondence was being opened, her car tracked and phones tapped.

It was also claimed that her bodyguard was plotting against her and close friends were betraying her by leaking stories to the press.

Robust inquiry'


This week, Earl Spencer said he never would have introduced Bashir to his sister were it not for him seeing the faked bank statements.

The faked statements wrongly purported to show that two senior courtiers were being paid by the security services for information on his sister, the Daily Mail said.

Earl Spencer has yet to supply the BBC with any of the material he has this week given to a newspaper.

The BBC has apologised for the faked statements, but has insisted they played "no part in her decision to take part in the interview".

The corporation has promised what it calls a "robust inquiry" with "appropriate independence".

A source at the BBC said the "appropriate independence" referred to "means an independent investigation".

The BBC has said an investigation has been "hampered at the moment" by the fact that Bashir was "seriously unwell".

Bashir, currently BBC News religion editor, has been unwell with Covid-19 complications, the BBC said last month.

The Princess of Wales died on 31 August 1997, aged 36, in a car crash in a Paris underpass.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×