Diana: princess, wife and working mother: who in one short lifetime would redefine royal duty for ever. A self-styled saviour who changed millions of lives at home and abroad. Who refused to follow royal protocol. We reveal secret night-time missions into no-go areas. With dangerous photo opportunities. And controversies that would put Diana on a collision course with the House of Windsor. Diana: Queen of Hearts aka Diana and Her Charities: Who Used Who? Channel 5 2020
Diana; princess, wife and mother: a role that was both her destiny and her greatest achievement. But Diana was from a broken home. And the odds were stacked against a shy nanny right from the start. Married into a family firm shackled by tradition with a father ill-prepared for fatherhood. A princess who was never afraid to break royal protocol, desperately trying to provide a normal childhood to two extraordinary boys. As her marriage unravelled on the world stage, she fought to protect her children from the press. Diana: A Mother’s Love, Channel 5 2020
Lady Diana Spencer was just 19 when she became engaged to the 32-year-old Prince of Wales. It was her first serious relationship. After more than a decade in a suffocating marriage the Princess was desperate to speak out. And in 1995 the Princess began a serious of clandestine meetings with BBC journalist Martin Bashir. His attempts to secure an interview with Diana are now the subject of fresh allegations by her brother Earl Spencer. Here, the man accused of helping Bashir speaks on camera. The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess s1e1, ITV 2020
Charles had been in a relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles for several years. But she had had a series of boyfriends and was deemed an unsuitable match for the heir of the throne. ibid.
Prince Charles was simply unable to give Diana the emotional security she so badly desired. ibid.
Back then, Diana probably believed she could win Charles’ love and make him forget Camilla. Charles himself was also trapped by circumstance. ibid.
‘I couldn’t believe that a man with a newborn baby was gonna leg it and play some daft game of Polo. Doing something like that to a wife with a newborn baby [Harry] was atrocious. If he thought he could treat his wife like that, he was in deep trouble.’ ibid. Ken Lennox, press photographer
On 20th June 1994 Charles attempted to hit back at Diana’s growing popularity. As well as rehabilitating his reputation – there was Camillagate – by giving an exclusive interview for Jonathan Dimbleby on ITV. ibid.
Diana’s BBC Man and Fake Bank Statements: Documents were falsified before Royal Interview. ibid. Daily Mail headline
‘This was an interview that went to the absolute dark heart of English establishment and the monarchy.’ The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess s1e2, Andrew Morton
‘She [Camilla] won’t go quietly. That’s the problem. I’ll fight till the end. Because I believe I have a role to fulfil.’ ibid.
The interview had been done without the knowledge of [Marmaduke] Hussey or the Board of Governors. ibid.
Eventually, Diana received £17 million but lost her HRH title as part of the settlement. ibid.
In the weeks before he secured his global scoop with Princess Diana, Martin Bashir asked his friend and colleague at Panorama, a BBC graphic designer, to do a job for him late one evening … ‘I am this guy that’s remembered for forging the document. And I want to clear my name … Martin asked me to make up a couple of bank statements about people being paid to do surveillance that he needed the following day. And he did say that they were just going to be used as copies.’ ibid. Matthias Wiessler, BBC graphic designer 1986-1995
The BBC has been wrestling with a scandal which casts a long shadow over its reputation for honesty and transparency. A film on Channel 4 just over a month ago showed how the most famous piece of television ever broadcast by the BBC involved deception and the use of forged documents. The Diana Interview: The Truth Behind the Scandal, Channel 4 2020
How Martin Bashir devised a scheme to get him an introduction to Princess Diana, the first step to persuading her to give him an interview. He commissioned two forged bank statements. ibid.
So how did BBC management know about what their reporter had been up to? ibid.
‘An extraordinary story of Walter Mittyish behaviour.’ ibid. Andrew Morton
The BBC needed to keep what they were doing secret from Buckingham Palace. ibid.
When the Spencers met the monarchy it should have been the ideal union of two noble families. But these blue-blooded families were on a collision course … We go behind the scenes of the ultimate family fall-out. When the Spencers Met the Monarchy, Channel 5 2021
Diana had serious cold feet. She said to her sisters that she was going to put the wedding off. And the sisters said, Too, late, Dutch … Your face is on the teatowels now. (Royal Family & Diana) ibid. Andrew Morton
It was finally clear the princess had been behind Andrew Morton’s book. Elizabeth: Our Queen VI: Crown in Crisis, Channel 5 2018
The most devastating of all – the death of the Princess of Wales – would take the monarchy to the brink of catastrophe. ibid.
There is more to the story of Princess Diana than meets the eye. The nursery school assistant who became the most famous woman in the world. But who she really was is still disputed. Some see her as a victim. Others cast her as manipulative. But while she may have tried to use the press there is no doubt they hunted her … The princess who changed the world. Diana, ITV 2021
When Diana is six, her parents split up. It is a bitter divorce for which her mother is blamed for. Her father wins custody, and Diana is sent to boarding school the following year. ibid.
Diana has been asking her parents if she could move to London for some time. ibid.
The Royal Family approve of the relationship. But Diana is becoming aware that Charles still has feelings for his ex, Camilla Parker Bowles. ibid.
As a teenager, Diana didn’t get along with her stepmother. And having lived out the fallout of a divorce first-hand, she’s determined that her marriage will be different. (Diana & Royal Family & Biography & Press & Star) ibid.
Charles and Diana go no honeymoon on the royal yacht Britannia, along with over 200 members of Her Majesty’s media. Diana becomes consumed with jealousy about Camilla, and is dismayed to discover that Charles has taken a photo of him with her. The couple begin to argue. Diana’s weight loss becomes ever more apparent. And Charles is becoming concerned. ibid.
Diana is suffering from post-natal depression. ibid.
She is becoming the biggest star in the world. ibid.
Diana arrived unannounced in the Bullring near Waterloo Station to meet the homeless who lived there. She spent the evening listening to stories of the men and women of cardboard city. ibid.
Rumours began to circulate that a tell-all book was about to be published. As the publication date nears, Diana is asked by the Palace if she has had any hand in the book. She strongly denies her involvement. The book is a huge scandal. The Queen and Prince Philip hold crisis talks with the couple and urge them to save their marriage. ibid.
Diana starts to become involved in an ever-more elaborate game with the press. As the paparazzi chase her, she briefs journalists and has dinner with editors. ibid.
Diana nicknames her boyfriend [Dr Hasnat Khan] Mr Wonderful. She is extremely careful to keep him a secret from the world’s press. And then she takes a big step to introducing him to William and Harry. ibid.
Diana’s life and times: there was the more fairytale princess from a more innocent age. So-called Dynasty Di from the ’80s: Hollywood glamour for a glitzy new world. Diana’s Decades, ITV 2021
June 1997 and New York City is host to the world’s hottest celebrity selling history’s most famous wardrobe. Diana’s Decades II
Spitting Image was as clear a sign as any of a cultural shift in the ’80s. Increasingly, new money trumped old institutions. ibid.
Cracks had started to appear in the marriage and it didn’t go unnoticed. ibid.
The auction would prove a tragic swansong rather than a new beginning. And Diana’s death two months later revealed just how caught up we all were with her life … A modern woman for every age. Diana’s Decades III
‘I’m not a politician. My interests are humanitarian.’ ibid. Diana
Morton’s book sold over 2 million copies globally. But as the world began to learn about the rot at the heart of the royal marriage, the Windsor family’s misery was only just beginning … Fergie was very publicly banished from the royal fold … The Sun published the Squidgy Tapes. ibid.
You’ve got to remember that when you marry in my position you’re going to marry somebody who perhaps one day is going to become queen. And you’ve got to choose somebody very carefully who can fulfil this particular role. And it’s got to be somebody pretty special. The Princess, Charles, Sky Documentaries 2022
Here is the stuff of which fairytales are made. The Prince and Princess on their wedding day. ibid. Archbishop of Canterbury
A state of rather cool indifference has settled over this marriage, and the one problem that we were all aware of was there from the start – the twelve year age gap has begun to tell. ibid. news report
British and French investigators break their silence. They face a relentless media and the rise of conspiracy theories online. Investigating Diana: Death in Paris I, captions, Channel 4 2022
The Mercedes was the wrong way round. A huge impact at the front. If a vehicle this strong had been so smashed by the impact, I imagine that a car of lower quality would have completely disintegrated. ibid. French investigator
A car comes out of the tunnel. A white Fiat Uno. The driver was obsessed with something in his mirrors … It has a damaged tail-light. ibid. Witness returning home from restaurant