Princess Diana reportedly once revealed a heartbreaking regret over her Panorama interview and the impact it had on her young sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
One of the late princess’ close friends revealed Diana’s reported regret, which she apparently made days before her death.
Before her tragic death in August 1997, Diana was on holiday in Greece with her friend Rosa Monckton. It turned out to be her last summer holiday before her death in Paris.
Princess Diana’s 1995 Panorama interview
During the trip, Rosa claims Diana opened up about her now-infamous Panorama interview, that had taken place two years before.
Princess Diana’s BBC Panorama interview with journalist Martin Bashir was broadcast 30 years ago. An estimated 200 million viewers worldwide tuned in to watch the princess speak out on several sensitive topics, including infidelity in her marriage to William and Harry’s father, now King Charles, and her struggles with bulimia. She famously said “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” when talking about Charles’ alleged affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
At the time of the interview, Diana and Charles were separated. However, they weren’t officially divorced.
The BBC had hailed the interview as the “scoop of a generation”.
It has since become one of the most scrutinised broadcasts in modern history.
A 2021 enquiry by Lord Dyson concluded that journalist Martin Bashir had acted in a “deceitful” way and faked documents to obtain the interview with Diana. This included the use of fabricated bank statements suggesting people close to her had been paid to keep the princess under surveillance.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie issued an apology and vowed to never show the interview again.
The BBC and Bashir both apologised, and the BBC wrote to William and Harry.
Diana’s regret over William and Harry
However, according to Rosa, the mum-of-two’s main regret was not about what she herself had confessed on camera, but its impact on her two sons, then just 15 and 12.
“She told me she regretted doing it because of the harm she thought it had done to her boys,” Rosa told PEOPLE.
“She was frail and that made her susceptible to Bashir,” she went on.
Rosa also added that Diana had “kept it all in”: “He’d told her she couldn’t talk about it. She cut people out because of that.”
William and Harry on Diana’s interview
Both princes have publicly condemned the interview.
Following the 2021 investigation, Prince William issued a statement, saying: “It brings me 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.
“The interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others.”
Meanwhile, Prince Harry said their mother “lost her life because of this and nothing has changed”.
He said that by protecting her legacy, they “protect everyone, and uphold the dignity with which she lived her life”.
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