A full and proper inquiry must be held into Princess Diana’s Panorama interview

Earl Spencer’s dossier demanding an inquiry into the fake documents that secured an interview with his sister will shine a fresh and long overdue light on the 1995 BBC programme, writes Chris Blackhurst

Martin Bashir interviews Princess Diana in Kensington Palace for ‘Panorama’ in 1995 (Corbis/Getty)

After 25 years of virtual silence about how the sensational BBC Panorama interview with his sister, the Princess of Wales, came about, Earl Spencer has gone on the offensive.

He has sent the BBC a “dossier” setting out how the reporter Martin Bashir used false bank statements that helped secure the landmark broadcast. In it, Diana famously remarked “there are three of us in this marriage” (her reference to Prince Charles’ long relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles). She admitted to her own affair with James Hewitt, said she would never be queen and was open, too, about her postnatal depression, self-harming and bulimia.

Spencer has extracted the promise from the BBC that once Bashir has recovered from Covid-19 he will be questioned, and the claims will be investigated. This isn’t good enough for the earl, though, who has tweeted that he believes the BBC to be “incapable of honestly facing up to the ugly truth of this matter” and wants an independent investigation.