It has been 25 years since Princess Diana sat down to give the most famous and controversial television interview in royal history, but today the Panorama interview that rocked the royal family is making headlines once again.

The BBC is facing a crisis over allegations that Martin Bashir, the interviewer who persuaded Princess Diana to give the bombshell interview in 1995, lied and committed subterfuge in order to get the princess to tell her side of the story—and that the BBC knew about it. Diana’s brother Earl Spencer is among the whistleblowers demanding a full independent investigation into Bashir’s conduct.

The princess agreed to speak with Martin Bashir in 1995 to set the record straight following tabloid speculation about her marriage to Prince Charles, which by that point had irretrievably broken down. During the interview the princess admitted that her marriage to Charles was over, saying, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”—an unmistakable reference to Charles’s ongoing affair with the future Duchess Camilla.

The interview was the final nail in the coffin for their marriage, prompting the queen to insist that the couple divorce, which they did the following year. In the interview Diana also admitted that she had been unfaithful with army officer James Hewitt, following Charles’s admission to Jonathan Dimbleby in an interview the previous year that he had also been unfaithful during the marriage.

According to Diana’s close friend Simone Simmons, the princess regretted ever speaking to Bashir because it led to the first major falling-out between Diana and her eldest son. “William was absolutely livid,” said Simone, who said the princess told William about the top-secret interview only after it was in the can. “Of course it was in all the papers and William told me he was teased at school because of it. He felt really bad for his mum because of what she had gone through, but he was furious with her. People at school were calling her all sorts of names. The weekend after it went out they had a big row at Kensington Palace. William was furious and Diana was distraught. I was there the day after she spoke to him and Diana was in a terrible state.”

While Simone said Prince William eventually forgave his mother, “It was the most angry I had seen him at her.”

It was Diana’s brother Earl Spencer who introduced Diana to Bashir after being courted by the journalist. Spencer was shown fake bank statements that supposedly proved that palace courtiers were selling stories to the press and had been paid money by News International.

Speaking about his decision to demand an inquiry into the BBC’s practices yesterday, Earl Spencer tweeted, “While I knew that Martin Bashir used fake bank statements and other dishonesty…what I found out only two weeks ago…is that the BBC also knew. Not only knew about it, but that they covered it up.” Spencer shared with the Mail notes he took from a meeting with Bashir in 1995 that alleges 32 lies Bashir told the princess, including that she was being spied on by the royal family and that MI6 had secretly recorded Prince Charles discussing the “end game.”

Earl Spencer last week rejected a partial apology from the BBC over the bank statements and is instead asking for a full inquiry, which the BBC has agreed to. Bashir, meanwhile, reportedly underwent quadruple bypass surgery this year and also contracted COVID-19, and has been unable to be interviewed.

Sources say William and Harry are said to be following developments in the story closely.

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