The Panorama Interview: November 20, 1995


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Jo of Palatine

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Moderator Note from ysbel: This topic came up during another discussion and we thought it made an interesting thread topic on its own. The question is why people think that Diana conducted the Panorama interview. We didn't include poll choices for this topic since the discussion was pretty much advanced at this time and we didn't want to delay starting the new thread but if you'd like to see a poll and have some idea for poll choices, then please pm me, ysbel, and I will be happy to oblige.

I.I think Diana was happy with the separation but didn't want a divorce.

Maybe for the years 1993/94, but I think in 1995 she wanted to move forward and tried to force the hand of Charles. Charles did not want a divorce and Diana did noit want to be to one to ask for one. So she did the Panorama-interview. She had learned from the Morton-book plus Squidgygate that the RF reacted when provoked too much. So she provoked them in a major way because she was sure that this would make the queen to tell Charles that there should be a divorce and soon. IMHO, of course. Burrell claimed at the inquest that Diana did not want a divorce but I think she wanted to end her strange status. Probably she even thought that if the RF wanted to force the divorce she could get a better settlement, maybe even keep her title.

I read that when Diana finally agreed to the divorce, she went public and told the media of details that were not yet fixed. That annoyed the queen so much that she stopped proceedings to find a suitable title for Diana and then issued the decree that former wifes of sons of the souverain should have no right to the title HRH. I doubt the queen thought of making Diana a peeress in her own right because I doubt the government wanted her to have a seat in the House of Lords (the reform of the House of Lords was later, wasn't it?) but she could have created her a Highness in her own right with precedence before the wifes of dukes.
 
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Maybe for the years 1993/94, but I think in 1995 she wanted to move forward and tried to force the hand of Charles. Charles did not want a divorce and Diana did noit want to be to one to ask for one. So she did the Panorama-interview. She had learned from the Morton-book plus Squidgygate that the RF reacted when provoked too much. So she provoked them in a major way because she was sure that this would make the queen to tell Charles that there should be a divorce and soon..

I thought she thought the Panorama interview would convince the Queen into letting her have a more high profile role representing Britain out of the country. If you remember, this was the only direct request she made to the Royal Family in the whole interview. She specifically said she wanted to represent the Royal Family outside of the country.

You'll remember that she spent a large part of the interview stressing how her only goal was to do a good job for the country despite all the hardships she had had. A large part of the interview seemed like a job interview. She talked about how she kept all her pain inside because she wanted to do a good job for the country and she didn't want to let people down and she said that despite not getting any help from the royal family on how to perform her role, when it came time to sink or swim she decided to swim. She said that a fulfilling job was now more important than being in a close relationship and that she wanted to be the Queen of People's Hearts. I thought she was trying to make a case that she had been successful at what the Royal Family had given her and that now she thought she was eligible for greater job responsibility. The one question that Martin Bashir asked her about whether she was really at the young age of 19, qualified for the job of Princess of Wales, she adroitly sidestepped to draw attention away from her onto Charles' deficiencies - she said sweetly that she had expected support when she married. This is a very adroit job interview tactic to avoid admitting a weakness and I don't think the answer was chosen by chance.

She wanted more trust from the family in the types of public roles they would allow her to play and in the types of causes that they would allow her to support in their name. Now the only thing that boggles my mind was that she ever thought that a public interview like this behind the royal family's back would ever convince the Queen to give her a bigger role for the family.

But I think she had a lot of confidence in her power with the press and she always overestimated her power with the Royal Family because she thought she could handle the Royal Family the way she handled every one else.
 
Now the only thing that boggles my mind was that she ever thought that a public interview like this behind the royal family's back would ever convince the Queen to give her a bigger role for the family.

But I think she had a lot of confidence in her power with the press and she always overestimated her power with the Royal Family because she thought she could handle the Royal Family the way she handled every one else.

Somehow your reasoning does not sound convincing to me.:flowers: IMHO she tried to much to blame Charles in public, she used the information about her suicide attempts from the Morton-book (though neither she nor Bashir call them that) to show people what a unloving and callous husband Charles had been:

BASHIR: What was your husband's reaction to this, when you began to injure yourself in this way?
DIANA: Well, I didn't actually always do it in front of him. But obviously anyone who loves someone would be very concerned about it.
BASHIR: Did he understand what was behind the physical act of hurting yourself, do you think?
DIANA: No, but then not many people would have taken the time to see that.



So: we learn that Charles did not in fact saw her hurting herself. Probably he didn't see it once or why say it in such a strange way: Well, I didn't actually always do it in front of him.... I personally think she never really tried anything like that but she pretended because she thought that that should get her the reaction she wanted from him and he in her opinion was not willing to take the time to find out why she did "it" - whatever it was she claimed she had done. In the Morton-book there is the transcript of the original tapes and there she said that only when a psychiatrist asked her how often she had tried to commit suicide, she had an answer spontaneously.


For me it reads as if she made the whole thing up or exaggerated it in order to blame Charles for neglecting her.
 
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My take on the suicide attempts and the bulimia is that there was too much evidence out there for her to refute them and they detracted seriously from her affirmation that she was getting better so she tried to admit to them in the least damaging way as possible (to her)

Her statements about the reactions of the Royal Family and Charles were puzzling. She said that of course they didn't know how to deal with it and the statements sound perfectly reasonable; however she didn't sound too convincing. It was like she was saying it but she didn't believe it herself. My interpretation is that somewhere along the line she had complained to someone that the Royal Family didn't understand her and didn't support her during her difficulty with bulimia and post partum depression and the suicide attempts and someone apparently had the good brains to tell her that she couldn't say that on national tv because there were too many families out there that would have been just as confused as the Royal Family and would have reacted the same way and she would risk alienating all of them.
 
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I thought she thought the Panorama interview would convince the Queen into letting her have a more high profile role representing Britain out of the country. If you remember, this was the only direct request she made to the Royal Family in the whole interview. She specifically said she wanted to represent the Royal Family outside of the country.

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ysbel, thank you for posting these insights. I had never thought of this aspect of the interview. I've tried to imagine many times what in the world was her purpose or goal in doing it. It appeared to be an extended whine and I could never understand what she thought she was trying to achieve. Your thoughts at least give me something to consider.
 
Having read everyone else's thoughts so far.... :flowers:

I don't think it was so much a job interview for HM but an attempt to gather the public to support her in a continued 'royal role'. We know that the PM had refused to meet her and this perhaps was an effort to show him that she had a role to play.

I also think that as more and more bad press regarding her affairs was surfacing, it was a way to shift all the blame to Charles, especially after his admission.

There is of course the old saying 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. Bad enough that he was happy with Camilla, but to tell the world!.....:eek:
 
I also think that as more and more bad press regarding her affairs was surfacing, it was a way to shift all the blame to Charles, especially after his admission.

There is of course the old saying 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. Bad enough that he was happy with Camilla, but to tell the world!.....:eek:

I only pity poor little William. In the Panorma-interview Diana tells three times how William was informed about htings relating to his parents:

1. After the Dimbleby-interview when Charles had admitted to his adultery:

DIANA: I went to the school and put it to William, particularly, that if you find someone you love in life you must hang on to it and look after it, and if you were lucky enough to find someone who loved you then one must protect it.
William asked me what had been going on, and could I answer his questions, which I did.
He said, was that the reason why our marriage had broken up?
And I said, well, there were three of us in this marriage, and the pressure of the media was another factor, so the two together were very difficult.
But although I still loved Papa I couldn't live under the same roof as him, and likewise with him.
BASHIR: What effect do you think it had on Prince William?
DIANA: Well, he's a child that's a deep thinker, and we don't know for a few years how it's gone in. But I put it in gently, without resentment or any anger.



2. About the Hewitt-affair and the book about it, how she reacted when the book hit the bookstores and Diana found out that he had written about their affair:


DIANA: And he'd (he = hewitt) rung me up 10 days before it arrived in the bookshops to tell me that there was nothing to worry about, and I believed him, stupidly.
And then when it did arrive the first thing I did was rush down to talk to my children. And William produced a box of chocolates and said, `Mummy, I think you've been hurt. These are to make you smile again.' So...



3. How William and Harry were informed about the separation:
BASHIR: Did you tell your children that you were going to separate?
DIANA: Yes. I went down a week beforehand, and explained to them what was happening.
And they took it as children do - lots of questions - and I hoped I was able to reassure them. But, who knows?
BASHIR: What effect do you think the announcement had on them?
DIANA: I think the announcement had a huge effect on me and Charles, really, and the children were very much out of it, in the sense that they were tucked away at school.



Sorry, if I imagine I would react that way to my sons when it comes to difficult times it boggles my mind. Instead of waiting for the holidays where the boys could be cared for by the family they were let out in the cold in their school - no doubt all teachers and household staff talked about it behind the boys' back and no mother or father there to help coping with that situation. Diana saw only the "huge effect" on her and simply didn't realise that the kids had needed her there...
 
She wanted to garner sympathy from the people so she could use it as leverage to keep a royal role. Additionally, she wanted to take this time to just crucify Charles as much as possible, but to do it in a way that would make her seem the helpless victim who just wanted to be loved by her husband.
That's what I think.
 
I believe Diana thought it was good idea to finally tell the world how she felt and was treated by the RF so as to eventually begin a new life and leaving all the problems behind. I think she also wanted to say everything to the public and break free from the press everlasting chase of scoop. The liberty was guiding her and she was blinded by it.
 
I believe Diana thought it was good idea to finally tell the world how she felt and was treated by the RF so as to eventually begin a new life and leaving all the problems behind. I think she also wanted to say everything to the public and break free from the press everlasting chase of scoop. The liberty was guiding her and she was blinded by it.

But why did she lie? And why did she blame Charles, blame her husband's camp, blame all and sundry? She agreed that it was difficult with her but again she said "nobody helped" me, then said that she did not want to either ask for help or accept it... IMHO she really appears to be a bit paranoid there.
 
But why did she lie? And why did she blame Charles, blame her husband's camp, blame all and sundry? She agreed that it was difficult with her but again she said "nobody helped" me, then said that she did not want to either ask for help or accept it... IMHO she really appears to be a bit paranoid there.

That, I really don't know Jo. But Diana lied easily when she was in a tough situation so it was much more simple for her to place the blame than recognize her faults.
 
I don't think it was so much a job interview for HM but an attempt to gather the public to support her in a continued 'royal role'. We know that the PM had refused to meet her and this perhaps was an effort to show him that she had a role to play.

Well I admit that viewpoint makes a lot more sense. I just couldn't fathom Diana having a greater royal role without the Queen's consent so I naturally assumed that she was making a public appeal to the Queen to let her have more of a public role.

But if she thought the Queen's opinion wasn't important and she could get around the Queen, then maybe she thought getting all this public support would be enough. I don't think though she was specifically angling for a divorce.
 
But if she thought the Queen's opinion wasn't important and she could get around the Queen, then maybe she thought getting all this public support would be enough. I don't think though she was specifically angling for a divorce.

From the interview:

There's even the suggestion of a divorce between you. What are your thoughts about that?DIANA: I don't want a divorce, but obviously we need clarity on a situation that has been of enormous discussion over the last three years in particular.
So all I say to that is that I await my husband's decision of which way we are all going to go.

(end of quote).

During the 15 years of her marriage she must have told Charles countless times hwat she tells the public in that interview. So what is she trying to achieve? Surely
now she has now thrown down the gauntlet and it's up to Charles to pick it up because the media at least if not the whole of the public will wait fro a decision. IMHO Diana's speculation was that a divorce is coming up now and that Charles will take the blame. And for many Diana-fans it worked exactly that way. They still blame Charles and Camilla even though it is pretty obvious that he is not the only guilty party. One can discuss that if provoced enough, any partner in a marriage has a right to go his/her own way and maybe Charles run away from his wife while she obviously wanted to stay married to him without changing her ways.
 
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From the interview:

There's even the suggestion of a divorce between you. What are your thoughts about that?DIANA: I don't want a divorce, but obviously we need clarity on a situation that has been of enormous discussion over the last three years in particular.
So all I say to that is that I await my husband's decision of which way we are all going to go.

Maybe Diana thought it was always possible to save the marriage. I think hope never left her and she may have thought the intervention of HM would change the situation and that Charles would eventually ditch Camilla. Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me at all ; Diana was a great dreamer sometimes.
 
Maybe Diana thought it was always possible to save the marriage. I think hope never left her and she may have thought the intervention of HM would change the situation and that Charles would eventually ditch Camilla. Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me at all ; Diana was a great dreamer sometimes.

Somehow that reminds me of that Stpehen King novel with the pschopathic nurse who nursed the writer. In the beginning she only seems to want to take care of him but once she realises that he has a mind of his own she does all she can to bring him down and make him do what she wants... In a similar way Diana seemed to have believed she was the only possible saving grace of the monarchy and all had to do as she guided them in order to "save the monarchy".
 
Maybe Diana thought it was always possible to save the marriage. I think hope never left her and she may have thought the intervention of HM would change the situation and that Charles would eventually ditch Camilla. Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me at all ; Diana was a great dreamer sometimes.

If she thought doing this interview, presenting herself the way she did, and saying the things she said would save/repair her marriage then it's a glaring example of her total misunderstanding of reality.
 
If she thought doing this interview, presenting herself the way she did, and saying the things she said would save/repair her marriage then it's a glaring example of her total misunderstanding of reality.

Well said.
And, when she said that she awaited her husband's decision on which way they will, well, that was a strategic move on her part. It allowed her to again play the victim who is waiting for someone else to decide her fate--and also, she let the world know she wanted to work on the marriage, and it was Charles' decision. So, inevitably the public would blame Charles and not her.
I find the way she did this to be wretchedly horrid.
 
If she thought doing this interview, presenting herself the way she did, and saying the things she said would save/repair her marriage then it's a glaring example of her total misunderstanding of reality.

Unfortunately, yes. She had asked HM's help already although, as I understand very well, the Queen felt it wasn't her business. The Panorama Interview was a revenge to QE's refusal and Charles 'misunderstanding' but also a way to show that from now on, nobody could stop her.

Somehow that reminds me of that Stpehen King novel with the pschopathic nurse who nursed the writer. In the beginning she only seems to want to take care of him but once she realises that he has a mind of his own she does all she can to bring him down and make him do what she wants... In a similar way Diana seemed to have believed she was the only possible saving grace of the monarchy and all had to do as she guided them in order to "save the monarchy".

I know the story, that's Misery ; it's an interesting comparison.
 
If she thought doing this interview, presenting herself the way she did, and saying the things she said would save/repair her marriage then it's a glaring example of her total misunderstanding of reality.

Good point.

In fact I can quite imagine that Diana thought that by releasing the story of Charles' betrayal in the Morton book, Charles would publicly be shamed and in a fit of guilt and love for Diana, he would admit the error of his ways, dump the evil witch Camilla who had ensnared his heart in chains for so long and crawl back on his hands and knees for his most innocent and most kind wife to forgive him to live happily ever after.

I can imagine that Diana felt very hurt and deceived when her shining public example did not immediately set Charles right as to the obvious error of his ways.

I am not a fan of Barbara Cartland but I do tend to agree with her that Diana read too many of her books.
 
Good point.

In fact I can quite imagine that Diana thought that by releasing the story of Charles' betrayal in the Morton book, Charles would publicly be shamed and in a fit of guilt and love for Diana, he would admit the error of his ways, dump the evil witch Camilla who had ensnared his heart in chains for so long and crawl back on his hands and knees for his most innocent and most kind wife to forgive him to live happily ever after.

I can imagine that Diana felt very hurt and deceived when her shining public example did not immediately set Charles right as to the obvious error of his ways.

I am not a fan of Barbara Cartland but I do tend to agree with her that Diana read too many of her books.

That was the big weakness of Diana : always hoping for a miracle to happen. She wasted an enormous amount of time by wanting a sign of the sky to make everything alright.
 
Rosa Monckton testifed at the inquest that Diana said "that she very much regretted having done the programme." (She also testified that Diana did not tell her the reasons for her regret.)

If Diana did truly regret doing the interview, why do you think she regretted it? Because the results were not what she expected? Was she made aware that her children were less than happy about it? (The effect on them is something that I have to believe she did not consider enough in her decision to do it). How soon after might she have begun regretting?
 
Judging by Diana's make up, her pathetic eye gestures, and her critisism of the Prince of Wales, she did this interview just to "get" at Charles and the Queen I think.
Did you notice how she berates Charles for being in love and unfaithful? When asked about her relationship with Hewitt, her eyecontact has gone, and she excuses herself by saying, "Yes I adored him, I was in love with him." Here she displays terrible double standards, and I think that it's a pity that Bashir did not have the chance to ask her about Will Carling, Oliver Hoare, to name but a few!
Her remarks about Charles and his future kingship were unforgivable.
To me the whole interview was done for nothing but spite, and showed her as a selfish little user. We all have our problems, much worse than bulimia and an unhappy marriage. We don't get the chance to go on TV and try to get the sympathy of the world though...
 
Judging by Diana's make up, her pathetic eye gestures, and her critisism of the Prince of Wales, she did this interview just to "get" at Charles and the Queen I think.
Did you notice how she berates Charles for being in love and unfaithful? When asked about her relationship with Hewitt, her eyecontact has gone, and she excuses herself by saying, "Yes I adored him, I was in love with him." Here she displays terrible double standards, and I think that it's a pity that Bashir did not have the chance to ask her about Will Carling, Oliver Hoare, to name but a few!
Her remarks about Charles and his future kingship were unforgivable.
To me the whole interview was done for nothing but spite, and showed her as a selfish little user. We all have our problems, much worse than bulimia and an unhappy marriage. We don't get the chance to go on TV and try to get the sympathy of the world though...

Well bulimia and a doomed marriage is, IMO, enough for someone to bear. And we don't have to go out in front of hundreds of people watching every moves, your physic appearance and then criticize how you dress, etc.
So, with all those bad sides I think she had the right to express herself in front of TV.
 
Well bulimia and a doomed marriage is, IMO, enough for someone to bear. And we don't have to go out in front of hundreds of people watching every moves, your physic appearance and then criticize how you dress, etc.
So, with all those bad sides I think she had the right to express herself in front of TV.

In that case, her problem was with the media and the public and she should have limited her comments and criticisms to them.
 
In that case, her problem was with the media and the public and she should have limited her comments and criticisms to them.

I think Diana really was hooked on the public's opinion as transported through the media. Richard Kay from the Daily Mail said that Diana phoned him occasionally to ask what the Sunday papers were writing about her and he said that she really was afraid that an unpleasant story could be printed. IMHO she thought too much about her power through the public because especially the Royals have been very good in ignoring negative press.
 
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I thought she thought the Panorama interview would convince the Queen into letting her have a more high profile role representing Britain out of the country. If you remember, this was the only direct request she made to the Royal Family in the whole interview. She specifically said she wanted to represent the Royal Family outside of the country.

You'll remember that she spent a large part of the interview stressing how her only goal was to do a good job for the country despite all the hardships she had had. A large part of the interview seemed like a job interview. She talked about how she kept all her pain inside because she wanted to do a good job for the country and she didn't want to let people down and she said that despite not getting any help from the royal family on how to perform her role, when it came time to sink or swim she decided to swim. She said that a fulfilling job was now more important than being in a close relationship and that she wanted to be the Queen of People's Hearts. I thought she was trying to make a case that she had been successful at what the Royal Family had given her and that now she thought she was eligible for greater job responsibility. The one question that Martin Bashir asked her about whether she was really at the young age of 19, qualified for the job of Princess of Wales, she adroitly sidestepped to draw attention away from her onto Charles' deficiencies - she said sweetly that she had expected support when she married. This is a very adroit job interview tactic to avoid admitting a weakness and I don't think the answer was chosen by chance.

I'm probably just being cynical, but putting the above appeal together with her attempts to undermine Charles and her strong hint that he'd be so much happier moving to Italy with "his lady," it seems to me that the job she was really looking for was that of mentor to her son, the successor to the Queen, and possibly regent if the Queen didn't survive till William's 18th birthday.

I think she had a lot of motives for that interview, largely to do with trying to take back some control over her future by appealing to the people over the heads of the royal family, but I still think that a large part of the motivation was to plant the idea in people's heads that the succession could be altered. And I think she thought she was popular enough to really start a serious debate that would end in Charles realising he was so unpopular that remaining in the line of succession would be too damaging for the monarchy. Her "I want to be queen in people's hearts" seems to me to be a suggestion that she'd make a good mentor and regent for her young son because she wasn't really just a semi-detached princess but was in fact the royal personage who really mattered in the eyes of the public. That whole interview struck me at the time, and still does, as an attempted coup.
 
I think Diana really was hooked on the public's opinion as transported through the media. Richard Kay from the Daily Mail said that Diana phoned him occasionally to ask what the Sunday papers were writing about her and he said that she really was afraid that an unpleasant story could be printed. IMHO she thought too much about her power through the public because especially the Royals have been very good in ignoring negative press.

Yes. And I think she felt insulated from any possible harm to her image or her position from the interview because of the public's adulation.
 
Reminder:

I've had to correct some newspaper and reporter references. Make sure when referring to newspapers and their staff (as well as anyone else for that matter) that you use their correct names. For example, the Daily Mail and Richard Kay. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me or another one of the British team.

Thanks.

ysbel
British forums moderator
 
I agree that Diana didn't want a divource, and she did not think the Queen or Charles would choose the divource option. I guess the interview was just another method of testing water, the revenge to Charles's very public confession as well as another opportunty to make people to take her side.

I think Diana thought too highly of herself and she never had difficulties to see through the reality and the implications of the course of the history. I would say Diana was brave enough to have this interview but a lot of recklesss thought which failed her to see the disaster effects followed by.
 
I agree with Elspeth in that I think that Panorama was an attempt to appeal directly to the people over the heads of the Royal Family. She wanted an Ambassador's role, she believed that people were conspiring against her, she wanted to have "the last word" over Charles's Dimbleby Interview and book and refute some of the rumours and criticisms that had developed about her, and I also believe that she truly thought that she had some unique gifts and talents that the other Windsors didnt' have and wanted to publicize them. I've never believed that Diana was certifiably mentally ill, but I do believe that she didn't think out the consequences of her actions in full. Perhaps she knew that her supporters would still support her after the Panorama interview; but I don't think that she considered the long-term implications of what she was saying and how her remarks could be considered treacherous toward Prince Charles.
 
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