Martin Bashir’s interview with Princess Diana, which aired on Panorama in late 1995, was a major BBC scoop. Never before had a serving royal discussed life in the Royal Family in such open terms.

“There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” Princess Diana stated. Before they married in 2005, Prince Charles had an affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles, his longtime love and mistress.  Diana sat down with Bashir just months after Charles revealed his affair and said his marriage had irreversibly broken down.

Only a few weeks ago, the BBC appeared to have recovered from a stormy season. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative administration deferred plans to restructure its finances, while its 24/7 coverage of the coronavirus outbreak provided as a timely reminder of the importance of a public-service broadcaster.

Diana was “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” according to Prince William. He said that the interview made a “major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse”

The “ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices” took his mother’s life, as per Prince Harry.

Prince William said this week that a probe into Bashir’s and the BBC’s procedures for obtaining the interview with the Princess of Wales was a “step in the right direction” that will “help establish the truth behind the actions” that led to Bashir’s interview with William and Harry’s mother.

According to a source close to Harry, tabloid claims that Prince Harry failed to support his brother and protect his mother’s legacy were “horrid and offensive”: “Sadly, some people are not just seeing this as a drive for truth, but also trying to use this as an opportunity to drive a wedge between the brothers.”

The fresh probe comes just days after Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, accused the BBC of gross negligence and misfeasance, claiming that Bashir manipulated both him and Diana by forging documents to earn their trust and get the interview that shocked the monarchy. ITV also aired The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess, an explosive documentary that details multiple instances of dubious, unethical, and perhaps criminal measures used by Bashir in order to gain the interview with the Princess of Wales.

Tim Davie, Director-General of the BBC, said: “The BBC is determined to get to the truth about these events and that is why we have commissioned an independent investigation…

Lord Dyson is a well-known and well-respected individual who will lead a comprehensive investigation.” Lord Dyson vowed a “thorough and fair” probe.

Mr. Johnson expressed profound worry; his ministers warned of new reforms; Diana’s boys blamed the broadcaster for their mother’s early death; and the BBC’s executives and journalists issued apologies that were so fulsome and remorseful that it appeared as if the whole institution had donned a hair shirt.

In the ITV documentary, Matt Wiessler, a graphics artist for the BBC’s Panorama program from 1986 to 1995, expresses sorrow for generating fabricated papers for Bashir to show the Princess of Wales and Lord Spencer, including bogus financial statements. The materials were purportedly created to persuade Diana and her brother that persons close to her, including some of her closest confidants, were being paid to spy on her by MI5 and MI6, the British security agencies. This was a pure fabrication.

Princess Diana was Prince William’s and Prince Harry’s mother.

She married Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, in St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

In 1992, the couple split up and divorced in 1996.

A year later, she, her partner Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, were killed in a vehicle accident in Paris.

Mr Paul lost control and slammed into a concrete pillar, when they were rushing away from photographers trailing the car.

He had large quantities of alcohol in his blood at the time, according to tests.