Princess Diana’s November 1995 Kensington Palace. The bombshell interview shocked the world as Diana spoke about the most intimate details of her life.
Diana Was Candid About Her Experiences With The Royal Family
The Princess of Wales made history by confirming that Prince Charles was having a tryst with Camilla Parker Bowles. “There were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” she admitted. It was the final nail in the coffin of Diana and Charles’s messy marriage.
In the interview, Diana was candid about her experiences with the royal family and the lack of support she received. She talked about her postpartum depression and how she tried to harm herself.
She revealed her struggles with bulimia. In secret tapes recorded for Andrew Morton, which became the book, “Diana: Her True Story,” she spoke of when her eating disorder started. Apparently, Prince Charles told her she was “a bit chubby” when the couple became engaged.
Her bulimia escalated due to Charles’s affair with Camilla. She blamed her pain on her failing relationship with the Prince of Wales.
“It was a symptom of what was going on with my marriage,”
She explained to Martin Bashir.
“I was crying out for help but giving the wrong signals, and people were using my bulimia as a coat on a hanger. They decided that I was the problem.”
The Princess also admitted that she had an extramarital affair with Captain James Hewitt, Prince William and Prince Harry’s riding instructor.
Diana also cast doubt on Charles’s ability to serve as King, hugely damaging the institution.
“I would think that the top job, as I call it, would bring enormous limitations to him, and I don’t know whether he could adapt to that,”
She said.
Prince William Requested The Interview Never Be Aired Again
Diana’s brutal honesty felt groundbreaking for a royal. Before the interview, no one had ever seen a royal talking about bulimia or self-harm.
That being said, a 2021 investigation into the interview revealed that Bashir used “deceitful behavior” by falsifying documents to coerce Diana.
Prince William claimed it should have never been aired
“after it had created a false narrative for over a quarter of a century,”
Her oldest son said.
It may be too painful for William to acknowledge what Diana saw as the truth. The future King poignantly asked his mother after the interview,
“Is it true that Daddy never loved you?”
However, what Bashir did to get that scoop is no less calculated. He breached BBC rules and forged bank statements to feed Diana’s paranoia that she was under surveillance. Diana was led to think that the palace was supervising her conversations and movements.
In The Daily Mail, the interview was described as
“the greatest crisis since the abdication.”
King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry American socialite and divorcee Wallis Simpson. The BBC covered up the allegations for twenty-five years, and the truth only came out after an official investigation.
Not only did the interview hurt the preservation of the monarchy, but it was so controversial and catastrophic that William requested it never be aired again. Diana died in a car crash in Paris two years later, on August 31, 1997.
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