Princess Diana left Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip unhappy after her Panorama interview. The late royal couple was reportedly not impressed after watching their daughter-in-law's infamous interview.
How Did Queen Elizabeth And Prince Philip Feel About Princess Diana's Panorama Interview?
The royal family found Princess Diana's interview for BBC with Martin Bashir abhorrent. They were unhappy because the late Princess of Wales was reportedly manipulated into doing the interview.
Bashir successfully convinced Prince William and Prince Harry's mom to do the interview. And the Panorama interview changed everything between her and the royal family because her father-in-law and mother-in-law were both very unhappy after watching it, according to a royal expert. They reportedly found it "shocking" and "unforgivable."
"[The queen] was despairing, her husband apoplectic," royal biographer Andrew Morton wrote in his new book The Queen: Her Life, People reported.
"Something had to be done, for the sake of not just the monarchy but also their grandchildren. The Queen, having held out the olive branch for so long, was now determined to cut the marital Gordian knot."
According to Morton, Princess Diana's interview was the last straw. After that, she ordered the then-Prince and Princess of Wales to get a divorce.
What Did Princess Diana Reveal In Her Panorama Interview?
Many were shocked by Princess Diana's explosive revelations in her interview with BBC journalist Martin Bashir. Among her big revelations was King Charles and Camilla's affair.
"There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," she said on camera.
"It was shocking because this was Diana in her own words and what she was saying was incredibly explosive," Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nicholl said, History reported. "It was Diana taking control of the narrative in front of the camera for the very first time."
Prince Harry and Prince William's mother also opened up about her mental health struggles in the same interview. She mentioned the lack of support from the royal family when she suffered postpartum depression.
"Well maybe I was the first person ever to be in this family who ever had a depression or was ever openly tearful," she said. "And obviously, that was daunting, because if you've never seen it before how do you support it?"
She also claimed that her struggles led her to be written off: "It gave everybody a wonderful new label: Diana's unstable and Diana's mentally unbalanced. And unfortunately, that seems to have stuck."
Princess Diana Was Manipulated To Do The Interview With Martin Bashir?
It was later revealed in The Dyson Report that Bashir used "deceitful methods" to convince Princess Diana to do the explosive tell-all. He showed her fake bank statements and fed on her paranoia, telling her that she was under surveillance.
"Diana was being encouraged to believe that the palace was carefully monitoring her conversations and her movements," royal historian and author Carolyn Harris said.
Prince William condemned the way the interview was obtained. He also blamed the network, BBC, for its failure that significantly contributed to Princess Diana's "fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her."
"While she always wanted to talk, the way Bashir booked the interview is so discredited that his actions have to be taken into account," Nicholl added. "We don't know how much the fears he instilled in her led her to doing the interview or whether she would have gone as far as she went had she not been deceived—that is the big question."
BBC issued an apology to King Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry in July.
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"It is a matter of great regret that the BBC did not get to the facts in the immediate aftermath of the program when there were warning signs that the interview might have been obtained improperly. Instead, as The Duke of Cambridge himself put it, the BBC failed to ask the tough questions. Had we done our job properly, Princess Diana would have known the truth during her lifetime. We let her, The Royal Family and our audiences down," BBC director general Tim Davie said in a statement via the network's website over a year after Dyson's independent investigation.
"Now we know about the shocking way that the interview was obtained, I have decided that the BBC will never show the program again, nor will we license it in whole or part to other broadcasters."
Stay tuned for more news and updates about the royal family.
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