Princess Diana Kept Her Answers ‘Very Beige’ When Asked About 1 Royal in BBC ‘Panorama’ Interview
Princess Diana’s BBC Panorama interview undoubtedly had many memorable moments. From now-famous quotes to Diana’s thoughts on royal life and her ex becoming king, she didn’t hold back. However, according to an author, Diana gave “deliberately uninteresting answers” when asked about the Queen Mother.
Princess Diana dodged questions about the Queen Mother in BBC ‘Panorama’ interview
Diana’s BBC Panorama interview aired in November 1995. Previously, she’d snuck a film crew and journalist Martin Bashir inside Kensington Palace.
During the interview, which is depicted in The Crown Season 5, Diana, according to royal author Gareth Russell, avoided discussing the Queen Mother.
“[In the] Martin Bashir interview, apparently he tried to get [Diana] to say something negative about the Queen Mother,” Russell told Kinsey Schofield during the Oct. 31 episode of the ToDiForDaily podcast. “He kept asking her questions” and “like a pro, Diana knocked them down.”
Diana, separated from now-King Charles III ahead of their official divorce in July 1996, offered only dull replies. She gave what Russell described as “very beige” and “deliberately uninteresting answers.”
Why? Because, as the author explained, she’d been well aware of the Queen Mother’s popularity.
[Diana] knew that if she said anything, that was going to take the focus off the story that she was telling,” Russell said, calling it “really smart.”
Princess Diana said the Queen Mother used to look at her ‘with a strange look in her eyes’
Years before the BBC Panorama interview, Diana talked about the Queen Mother during a phone call that later became known as “Squidgygate.” Unbeknownst to Diana and her friend, James Gilbey, their conversation had been secretly recorded.
While Gilbey referred to Diana many times during the call as “Squidge” or “Squidgy,” the late British royal did briefly mention her grandmother-in-law.
“‘His grandmother is always looking at me with a strange look in her eyes,’” Diana told Gilbey, Russell wrote in his book, Do Let’s Have Another Drink! The Dry Wit and Fizzy Life of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, per Newsweek.
“‘It’s not hatred; it’s sort of interest and pity mixed in one,’” Diana continued. “‘I am not quite sure. I don’t understand it. Every time I look, she’s looking at me, then looks away and smiles …'”
By the time the recording of the 1989 phone call sold in 1992, Russell explained, Diana wasn’t on good terms with the Queen Mother.
“Diana did not enjoy herself at the Queen Mother’s ninetieth birthday party in August 1990, calling it ‘grim and stilted. They are all anti-me. My grandmother [Ruth, Lady Fermoy] has done another good hatchet job on me,’” he wrote.
An internal investigation found Martin Bashir used ‘deceitful behavior’ to secure Princess Diana’s BBC ‘Panorama’ interview
A BBC-commissioned inquiry found there to be a lot happening in the lead-up to Diana’s BBC Panorama interview. Launched in 2020, the inquiry determined Bashir “commissioned” fake bank statements alleging payment to the head of security for Diana’s brother, Earl Charles Spencer.
Additionally, it found Bashir had “fabricated” other documents. In the wake of the findings, Prince William called for the Diana BBC Panorama interview never to air again.
“It is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said. The interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others,” William said in a statement.
