How The BBC Is Attempting To Make Up For Princess Diana's Infamous 1995 Interview

Princess Diana's 1995 bombshell interview with BBC journalist Martin Bashir shocked the world. During the sit-down, Diana shared details about her troubled marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales, with a candidness that had rarely been seen by a royal family member. "Well, there were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded," she infamously explained, alluding to Charles' on-going relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.

After the interview aired, Queen Elizabeth wrote to Charles and Diana, ordering them to divorce, per the BBC, leading Diana to immediately regret her actions. "She said, 'Simone, I never wanted to divorce Charles. I always loved him,'" her friend, Simone Simmons, told the Mirror.

In 1997, Diana tragically died in Paris, and in 2021, it was revealed that Bashir had used "deceitful behavior" to secure the interview, including falsifying bank statements to convince Diana to join him on-camera, per NBC News. The report by Lord Dyson also stated that the BBC fell short of "high standards of integrity and transparency." Diana's sons, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, immediately lashed out at Bashir and the BBC. 

"What saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived," William said in a video statement. "She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions."

Now the BBC is trying to make amends in honor of the 25th anniversary of Diana's death.

On the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, the BBC is trying to make amends. The network has donated a total of £1.42 million (about $1.63 million) to seven charitable organizations, with the funds coming from profits made from the sale of the 1995 interview the Princess of Wales conducted with Martin Bashir. 

Donations have been sent to causes Diana was involved in at the time of her death: Centrepoint, English National Ballet, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSH), The Leprosy Mission, National Aids Trust, and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The Diana Award, which was created after her passing, also received a donation. "Given the findings of Lord Dyson, we think this is the right and appropriate course of action," a statement from the BBC read.

Diana's two sons, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, honored the anniversary of their mother's passing in private — and separately – as their relationship remains strained. Biographer James Patterson, author of "Diana, William, & Harry," told Entertainment Tonight that he believes Diana would be upset over the rift between her boys. "I think that would really make her sad because they had been so very close as kids, and then... Will obviously deciding [that he] must stay with tradition and the crown and the royals, and then Harry making the break," he said.