The Panorama Interview: November 20, 1995


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I think that both Diana and Charles regretted doing the TV interviews, and letting so much be said in the books about them. Hitting out in anger's understandable, but it's not usually very wise.

I totally agree. I also believe that Diana and Charles have regretted giving these interviews. These interviews only caused more controversy. It is a pity that Prince Harry also made the same mistake as his father and mother when giving the interview to Oprah. I think Harry will also regret having given this interview.
 
Relationships are complex things and I don't think we'll ever really get a clear picture of the extent of feelings that Charles or Diana or even Camilla really held at any time. One thing is for sure though, Charles' relationship with Diana was different from his relationship with Camilla. I think its possible that Charles could have loved and appreciated both women but in very different ways. One big difference I can see between his relationship with Camilla that wasn't there with Diana is that element of being "best friends". The kind of person that you are so comfortable with that you can and do bare your soul to them. That's a degree of intimacy that Charles never reached with Diana. They were just too different people to really be able to "get" each other on a deeper level.

I talk a lot about unconditional love. The no matter what happens kind of love and there's a Greek name for it. Agape. It withstands the test of time. What Charles and Diana had was more at first at the Eros (physical) level and they were honestly attracted to and "in love" but the difference were too great in their personalities to actually go much deeper. As much as I know Charles was into philosophy, I think he was very aware of these different kinds of love and that's what he was referring to when he stated "whatever "in love" means".

I found myself nodding my head vigorously while reading this post. What you say makes perfect sense to me and I wouldn't be at all surprised if that 'whatever "in love" means' comment was based on philosophical notions as you say.
 
I found myself nodding my head vigorously while reading this post. What you say makes perfect sense to me and I wouldn't be at all surprised if that 'whatever "in love" means' comment was based on philosophical notions as you say.

or he was uneasily aware that he wasnt really in love with Diana.
 
or he was uneasily aware that he wasnt really in love with Diana.

I really do not believe that Charles would say those words to the world on the occasion of his engagement announcement with his fiancee by his side if that was the reason for them. He wasn't having a cosy chat with one of his mates over a fifth g&t, he was making his engagement announcement about his marriage to the young woman who would be the Queen consort one day and he seemed to have carefully chosen his words. He had made the decision to share his life with this woman and I do not believe he would be that cruel to her, but I can definitely see him awkwardly letting some philosophically-based notion slip because he was heavily into that stuff at the time.
 
I think it was wise of Charles not to make a statement; it wouldn't go well for him from some corners, and he doesn't need to deal with this in addition to everything else he's dealing with

Prince Charles has told friends he wants the BBC to stop showing clips of the Panorama interview.

While he has decided not to follow his sons by issuing a public statement, Charles has told aides he is frustrated that – despite the damning report by Lord Dyson – the Corporation persists in airing segments of Martin Bashir’s interview with Princess Diana in news reports.

He believes that in doing so, it is failing to live up to the spirit of its promise not to broadcast the interview again.

..........

The source added that Charles had ‘fully supported’ William’s decision to issue a statement attacking the BBC in the wake of the report. William also informed the Queen before making his bombshell public remarks last week.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...to=1490&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
 
Relationships are complex things and I don't think we'll ever really get a clear picture of the extent of feelings that Charles or Diana or even Camilla really held at any time. One thing is for sure though, Charles' relationship with Diana was different from his relationship with Camilla. I think its possible that Charles could have loved and appreciated both women but in very different ways. One big difference I can see between his relationship with Camilla that wasn't there with Diana is that element of being "best friends". The kind of person that you are so comfortable with that you can and do bare your soul to them. That's a degree of intimacy that Charles never reached with Diana. They were just too different people to really be able to "get" each other on a deeper level.

I talk a lot about unconditional love. The no matter what happens kind of love and there's a Greek name for it. Agape. It withstands the test of time. What Charles and Diana had was more at first at the Eros (physical) level and they were honestly attracted to and "in love" but the difference were too great in their personalities to actually go much deeper. As much as I know Charles was into philosophy, I think he was very aware of these different kinds of love and that's what he was referring to when he stated "whatever "in love" means".

Not that relationships where there's an age gap can't work, but a 13 year difference is HUGE at any time, especially when you're not that long out of your teens. There's just a huge difference in life experience between Charles and Diana that wasn't there with Charles and Camilla.

I really do think Charles loved Diana - that's really all that matters to me, not whether he was "in love". Possibly if he hadn't already found his true love, it might have worked- many couples are able to turn love into "in love" with enough time. Or, maybe it wouldn't..... but as Camilla was already in the picture, there really was no chance of that happening.
 
I think he loved her but was not "in love" with her but that is my opinion. The only person who knows is Charles and he has never said that he didn't love or was not "in love" with Diana.
I so agree and it's something that will only ever be truly known to Charles how he felt about his first wife and the mother of his children.
 
Terrific article...


The prince, 38, was given no advance notice of the report’s damning conclusions. He read it with several of his aides. By the time he finished, a close friend said, he knew exactly how he wanted to respond.

“This was one of those moments — there have only been one or two in his life — where he felt he had to step up and defend his mother,” the friend added. “[He felt it was] his duty to look after his mother’s memory, because he can’t look after her any more.”
.....
William had been worried that Dyson would simply rap Bashir on the knuckles for bad behaviour and exonerate the BBC’s top brass. Yet here was the judge’s report, confirming the prince’s steadfast belief that his mother had been deceived, his father badly damaged and his own childhood marred by an interview that intensified the “fear, paranoia and isolation” suffered by Diana before her 1997 death in a car crash in Paris.

Although reading the report had been “a stressful moment”, William’s friend added, “he was so calm, he took advice and planned his statement. He was very clear that he wanted to read it out [from a printed page and not from an autocue] and he didn’t want it to be overly emotional. It was all him.”

....

William is said to be “entirely realistic” about the prospects of undoing the damage caused by the Bashir affair. His friend noted: “He’s not expecting a magic box to open. He knows you can’t wind back time and draw in all the tentacles that spread out from Panorama but you can cut them off at the base.

“He hopes he has helped to change the ‘narrative’ ... he’s trying to plant the idea in people’s minds that Diana may well not have given this interview if she hadn’t felt so threatened, if she hadn’t been told that the people closest to her were spying for MI6, when she was already feeling lonely and isolated.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...lliam-wont-let-the-bbc-off-the-hook-gh9ttv0mx
 
Not that relationships where there's an age gap can't work, but a 13 year difference is HUGE at any time, especially when you're not that long out of your teens. There's just a huge difference in life experience between Charles and Diana that wasn't there with Charles and Camilla.

I really do think Charles loved Diana - that's really all that matters to me, not whether he was "in love". Possibly if he hadn't already found his true love, it might have worked- many couples are able to turn love into "in love" with enough time. Or, maybe it wouldn't..... but as Camilla was already in the picture, there really was no chance of that happening.

I think he was thinking of marriage, and perhaps he was realising that he cared a lot for Camilla but that their affair couldn't go on, he had to settle down and provide an heir. And Diana was very charming, beautiful, warm and seemed to care for him. I think he was touched by her friendly warm affectionate nature and she seemed just right to be a Princess. He was certainly attracted to her physically and that probably blinded him to the differences between them, for a time.
 
I think he was thinking of marriage, and perhaps he was realising that he cared a lot for Camilla but that their affair couldn't go on, he had to settle down and provide an heir. And Diana was very charming, beautiful, warm and seemed to care for him. I think he was touched by her friendly warm affectionate nature and she seemed just right to be a Princess. He was certainly attracted to her physically and that probably blinded him to the differences between them, for a time.

Makes sense. Such a tragic mess...
 
But you're all talking about it from the perspective of their private, later lives. At the time the War of the Waleses raged, I was a tween and fully in Diana's camp, so Charles was the devil.


Now, though, I can't really imagine him WANTING to convey to millions of viewers that he didn't love the girl he had JUST proposed to. He isn't this cruel. It was a bad case of a foot in the mouth, or perhaps an attempt to sound funny, whatever. But I just can't see it as deliberate attempt at a code language that he's marrying her just because he's forced to.


Why would he want to undermine and humiliate Diana?
 
But you're all talking about it from the perspective of their private, later lives. At the time the War of the Waleses raged, I was a tween and fully in Diana's camp, so Charles was the devil.


Now, though, I can't really imagine him WANTING to convey to millions of viewers that he didn't love the girl he had JUST proposed to. He isn't this cruel. It was a bad case of a foot in the mouth, or perhaps an attempt to sound funny, whatever. But I just can't see it as deliberate attempt at a code language that he's marrying her just because he's forced to.


Why would he want to undermine and humiliate Diana?

I agree, and like you although not a tween ,I was fully in Diana's camp. In fact in the early days of press stories about problems I didn't believe them as she always looked happy.
Now looking back, and now being fully appreciative of the whole picture it was a tragedy waiting to happen from day 1.
 
I really do not believe that Charles would say those words to the world on the occasion of his engagement announcement with his fiancee by his side if that was the reason for them. He wasn't having a cosy chat with one of his mates over a fifth g&t, he was making his engagement announcement about his marriage to the young woman who would be the Queen consort one day and he seemed to have carefully chosen his words. He had made the decision to share his life with this woman and I do not believe he would be that cruel to her, but I can definitely see him awkwardly letting some philosophically-based notion slip because he was heavily into that stuff at the time.

I dont think it was conscious, of course. I think he did fall in love a bit with Diana, he has said in his youth that he fell in love easily and I'm sure there were lots of girls that he had some strong feelings for, for a time. but I think that this time, he was attracted, but he also knew that he and Camilla were very close.. and that he was in an awkward position of having reached the point where he really SHOULD get married.. And he'd been told by Philip that it was time he got on with it and that if he let Diana go, he'd have to start all over again. SO I think he was dwelling a lot on "I love this girl, at least I think I do but I also love Camilla".. and when he had made the commitment, I dont think it really gave him any relief from the uneasy feelings.. so he came out with this awkward foolish remark. And I think that as the engagement progressed, he felt more uneasy.. he did care for Diana, she was a lovely pretty girl and he hoped it would work out, but he was probably realizing that he didn't know her all that well and that perhaps she was not quite the jolly simple girl he had originally thought.. that she had her own problems, her own sadnesses and that perhaps getting engaged hadn't been such a good idea but now, he could not get out of it.
 
I dont think it was conscious, of course. I think he did fall in love a bit with Diana, he has said in his youth that he fell in love easily and I'm sure there were lots of girls that he had some strong feelings for, for a time. but I think that this time, he was attracted, but he also knew that he and Camilla were very close.. and that he was in an awkward position of having reached the point where he really SHOULD get married.. And he'd been told by Philip that it was time he got on with it and that if he let Diana go, he'd have to start all over again. SO I think he was dwelling a lot on "I love this girl, at least I think I do but I also love Camilla".. and when he had made the commitment, I dont think it really gave him any relief from the uneasy feelings.. so he came out with this awkward foolish remark. And I think that as the engagement progressed, he felt more uneasy.. he did care for Diana, she was a lovely pretty girl and he hoped it would work out, but he was probably realizing that he didn't know her all that well and that perhaps she was not quite the jolly simple girl he had originally thought.. that she had her own problems, her own sadnesses and that perhaps getting engaged hadn't been such a good idea but now, he could not get out of it.

I never read that Philip said that, just that Charles should make a decision one way or the other ....essentially marry Diana or let her go
 
I never read that Philip said that, just that Charles should make a decision one way or the other ....essentially marry Diana or let her go
I beleive that he did mention stuff about Diana's reputation blah blah and felt that Charles should ask her to marry him or stop seeing her.
And I am sure he must have mentioned that Charles was over 30 now and that if he let Diana who seemed so suitable, get away, he would have to find another girl, she would also be quite young, the RF would have to put up with the press snooping around for another period of time etc etc,. It was time to get on with it.
Philip probably was wary about Charles' affair with Camilla and worrying that it was this relationship which was making Charles so slow about finding a wife..so he hoped to rocket his son inot making a choice...
 
Poor William...he was just a boy; how could he truly process all this? That allegation of his spying is sickening.


When it was aired on a wet and windy November night in 1995, Prince William watched his mother’s Panorama interview in a master’s study at Eton.

Then aged 13, having joined the exclusive Berkshire boarding school just two months earlier, he reportedly wept as Diana, Princess of Wales poured her heart out to Martin Bashir.

Coming three years after Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s separation, the teenage prince’s hopes of a parental reconciliation were cruelly dashed as she admitted to being in love with James Hewitt and described Camilla Parker-Bowles as "the third person" in her marriage.

According to the royal author Penny Junor, William was left “devastated” by the revelations, which led to the couple’s divorce the following year.

She said: "He was deeply upset, as any child, watching one parent assassinate the integrity of the other, let alone talk about their infidelity, would be.”

.......


Among the most damaging was undoubtedly the claim that Diana was being spied on by her eldest son, via a bugging device fitted to a new Swatch watch given to him by his father.

Bashir levelled the appalling allegation at William during a meeting with Diana and her brother Earl Spencer in a bid to persuade the already vulnerable and paranoid princess to agree to the sensational sit-down.

Little wonder, then, that William not only believes “the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said”, but also that: “the interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse.”



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-f...intervention-25-years-making-inspired-desire/
 
I beleive that he did mention stuff about Diana's reputation blah blah and felt that Charles should ask her to marry him or stop seeing her.
And I am sure he must have mentioned that Charles was over 30 now and that if he let Diana who seemed so suitable, get away, he would have to find another girl, she would also be quite young, the RF would have to put up with the press snooping around for another period of time etc etc,. It was time to get on with it.
Philip probably was wary about Charles' affair with Camilla and worrying that it was this relationship which was making Charles so slow about finding a wife..so he hoped to rocket his son inot making a choice...

Yes, in a letter to Charles that C misinterpreted. I just never read the other stuff - that seems like speculation
 
Yes, in a letter to Charles that C misinterpreted. I just never read the other stuff - that seems like speculation

well its not likely that the letter will be published or not for a long time. But it seems reasonable to me that Philip was fed up with Charles' dithering, that's the way he is.. and that he tried to push him into getting on with arranging his marriage...
 
The awards Martin Bashir received for the Panorama should be revoked too.


Hear Hear Hear,down with basher Bashir!

And,now he denies the interview affected Diana.

Take him to the Courts and villify him!
 
well its not likely that the letter will be published or not for a long time. But it seems reasonable to me that Philip was fed up with Charles' dithering, that's the way he is.. and that he tried to push him into getting on with arranging his marriage...

Very possibly....we’ll never really know.m
 
I was dismissive when I first read that BBC was accused of being indirectly responsible for Diana's death but as I think about it, I understand the connection - although it was her decision to endanger other people because she didn't want to be photographed. But I can understand why people believe that these lies led to her refusal to accept official security, which could have made a big difference the night she died.

However, I still think that Charles Spencer is trying to divert attention from his own actions. He brought her this information but he didn't guide her on her response. If he thought this was true, why didn't he step up and release these documents to the public? If he had, they would have been debunked at the time. He just brought her this upsetting information and essentially said "good luck with all of this." How would giving BBC an interview about everything but these allegations help Diana? I also believe that Diana would have made very different decisions had he had allowed her to live at her family estate. If she had felt safer, she may not have been drawn to the Fayads because she thought they had the resources to protect her.
 
Agreed. He has been pretty universally praised for his response to the report
If anyone can please post the Times and Telegraph articles, that would be very nice. I am unable to access either. Thanks so much!
 
I was dismissive when I first read that BBC was accused of being indirectly responsible for Diana's death but as I think about it, I understand the connection - although it was her decision to endanger other people because she didn't want to be photographed. But I can understand why people believe that these lies led to her refusal to accept official security, which could have made a big difference the night she died.

However, I still think that Charles Spencer is trying to divert attention from his own actions. He brought her this information but he didn't guide her on her response. If he thought this was true, why didn't he step up and release these documents to the public? If he had, they would have been debunked at the time. He just brought her this upsetting information and essentially said "good luck with all of this." How would giving BBC an interview about everything but these allegations help Diana? I also believe that Diana would have made very different decisions had he had allowed her to live at her family estate. If she had felt safer, she may not have been drawn to the Fayads because she thought they had the resources to protect her.
I hear what you are saying! I understood Earl Spencer to say that after he and Diana met with Bashir that there were so many unbelievable statements by Bashir that it was done and they wouldn’t have more to do with him. Did Spencer know about the interview before she did it? Did he know that Diana and Bashir got together after their joint meeting as Bashir claims? Did Spencer ever follow up with his sister later to talk about it to see what she was thinking? He said he took responsibility for introducing him to her.
But since he believed the bank statements himself, surely he thought something was going on. He was in a position to help protect her as Bashir threw the RF and some of her staff under the bus. I’m not sure about his follow through with Diana about this.
The other thing I must have missed is why did Spencer bring this up a few months ago? What happened after 25 years to make him want it reinvestigated?
Obviously I have a lot of questions and would like to hear others’ thoughts.
Again if you aren’t in the UK I posted earlier how to watch the recent BBC special on YouTube.
For those of us who do not have access to BBC player, it is currently on YouTube put up by Gavin Martin and called Princess Diana Martin Bashir and the BBC, Panorama 20/5/2021. It is 32 min and 43 sec.
 
The other thing I must have missed is why did Spencer bring this up a few months ago? What happened after 25 years to make him want it reinvestigated?


Andy Webb (a tv journalist) struck gold after years of digging information from the BBC, as they outright lied to him and others. You need to read his take on all of this as it was very intriguing. He passed this on to Lord Spencer in October and then it took a while for the Earl to formulate a way to deal with it.:



From Earl Spencer's Twitter account: "I’d like to thank the TV journalist Andy Webb for his tireless professionalism in bringing the Bashir-Panorama-BBC scandal to light. If he hadn’t have pursued this story for well over a decade, and shared his findings with me last October, today’s findings wouldn’t have surfaced."


Myself personally I believe the BBC twisted and shaped their own version of Diana, Princess of Wales to draw as much attention and drama so that the public would continue to watch their programs. Its always about corporate greed and money. I also believe that it made her so paranoid about the world around her that she wanted out of relationships, and live her life differently. She was starting to overcome this just before her death. The seat belt goes 'click'...she would have been sixty years old this July.
 
I hear what you are saying! I understood Earl Spencer to say that after he and Diana met with Bashir that there were so many unbelievable statements by Bashir that it was done and they wouldn’t have more to do with him. Did Spencer know about the interview before she did it? Did he know that Diana and Bashir got together after their joint meeting as Bashir claims? Did Spencer ever follow up with his sister later to talk about it to see what she was thinking? He said he took responsibility for introducing him to her.
But since he believed the bank statements himself, surely he thought something was going on. He was in a position to help protect her as Bashir threw the RF and some of her staff under the bus. I’m not sure about his follow through with Diana about this.
T.
I very much doubt that Diana told her brother she was going ahead with the interview. He may have not been sure what to believe and felt a bit uneasy, but not to the point where he would advise her to cooperate with Bashir... but Diana did want to speak to someone, to put out her story.. and while Bashir is very much to blame, I think if it hadn't bee him it would have been someone else that she talked to.
She was angry at Charles' interview and wanted a right of reply adn she knew that she was much more charismatic on TV than her husband.. so she would be better liked by the public. And she was. It was mostly Charles' POW's supporters who said that she was crazy/paranoid etc.

But she kept schtum about what she was up to and certainly didn't tell anyone that she was going to do the interview. I dont know what Spencer said to her afterwards but by then the damage was done..
And I think that Bashir riled Diana up as much as he did, because he believed that by so doing, she'd come out with some good stuff.. and she did....
 
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