The BBC has issued an apology for its “clear failings” in how it handled Princess Diana’s history-making interview in 1995, six months after the interview’s 25th anniversary sparked new scrutiny of how then-BBC reporter Martin Bashir snagged the interview. In response to a report by Lord John Dyson released Thursday, the broadcaster’s director-general Tim Davie said, “It is clear that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. We are very sorry for this.”
In the interview that aired on November 20, 1995, Diana discussed the difficulties of her marriage with Prince Charles and made allegations about infidelity with Camilla Parker-Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, saying “There were three of us in this marriage.” She also discussed personal topics like her experience with bulimia.
Dyson, a retired British judge, was appointed to lead the investigation in November, after investigations by ITV, Channel 4, the Telegraph, and the Daily Mail revealed new information about Bashir’s actions in the months leading up to the interview—and new questions about how the BBC reacted in the months after. Matt Weissler, a graphic designer, claimed publicly that Bashir asked him to forge bank documents regarding an employee of Charles, Earl Spencer. Later, Spencer alleged that Bashir used bank statements to secure an introduction to Diana and then lied to Diana about the royal family in order to gain her trust.
According to the BBC, Dyson’s report confirms that Bashir did show Spencer the fake documents that Weissler designed. It also claims that Bashir lied to BBC executives during an initial investigation a few months after the interview aired, calling his account of the events “incredible, unreliable, and in some cases dishonest.”
The report comes just five days after Bashir resigned from his most recent post at BBC News as the religion editor due to poor health. In a statement to BBC News, Bashir apologized for creating fake documents before he approached Diana and Spencer but said that it didn’t influence Diana’s decision to participate. “Evidence handed to the inquiry in her own handwriting (and published alongside the report today) unequivocally confirms this, and other compelling evidence presented to Lord Dyson reinforces it,” he said, adding that he remains “immensely proud” of the interview.
In his statement, Davie said the report also states that Diana was interested in an interview with the BBC in some capacity, the broadcaster failed to be transparent about what it knew. “While today’s BBC has significantly better processes and procedures, those that existed at the time should have prevented the interview being secured in this way,” he said. “While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology.”
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