Princess Diana Expected the Royal Family’s Reaction to Her Bombshell ‘Panorama’ Interview
Princess Diana wasn’t exactly surprised talk of divorce came from the British royal family following her famous Panorama interview. According to a journalist and friend of the late royal’s, Diana “knew” the interview would result in divorce.
Queen Elizabeth urged Diana to divorce King Charles after the 1995 interview
Diana spoke candidly to journalist Martin Bashir about her experience in the royal family. In the November 1995 interview, she famously touched on her then-husband’s affair with the now-Queen Camilla, saying there were “three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” Diana also talked about her own affairs. Other topics included suicide, eating disorders, and divorce (she didn’t want to split up with King Charles) among others.
What came after—besides many shocking headlines—were letters to Diana and King Charles from Queen Elizabeth II (via Town & Country). In a December 1995 statement, Buckingham Palace said the queen had written to her son and daughter-in-law. Furthermore, she’d shared her “view” that an “early divorce is desirable.”
In 2022 an investigation revealed Bashir used deceptive methods to secure the interview. Both Prince William and Prince Harry spoke out about the findings. The former calling for the interview never to be aired again.
Diana ‘knew’ the royal family would want her to get a divorce after the interview
Speaking in a documentary, journalist Richard Kay, who was also a friend of Diana’s, suggested she knew the royal family would sever ties because of the Panorama interview.
“We all know Diana was tricked or fed things. But I learned something quite interesting recently, and it came from [Diana’s ex-boyfriend] Hasnat Khan. And he told me that she knew what she was doing,” Kay said (via The Independent). “She said, ‘I know how the royals react to this. I know what they’ll do,’ and she said, ‘They’ll now want me to divorce.’”
That’s exactly what happened. Diana and the now-king had been separated since 1992 but it wasn’t until after the Panorama interview that their divorce proceedings began in earnest. The two officially divorced in August 1996, almost a year exactly before Diana’s shocking death at the age of 36. See The Crown‘s portrayal of Diana and Charles’s divorce below.
Princess Diana was ‘pleased’ with her ‘Panorama’ interview
Royal author Tina Brown wrote in her 2022 book, The Palace Papers, that Diana was “pleased” with the interview and “didn’t have a bad word to say” about Bashir (via Mirror).
Friends of the late royal’s “made clear that she had said exactly what she wanted to say on camera,” according to Brown.
As for Bashir’s tactics, she dismissed the idea of a “foolish” Diana. “I don’t subscribe to the now pervasive narrative that Diana was a vulnerable victim of a media manipulation, a mere marionette tossed about by malign forces beyond her control,” the author added in reference to Bashir’s lies to land the interview.
“While strongly sympathetic to her sons’ pain, I find it offensive to present the canny, resourceful Diana as a woman of no agency, as either a foolish, duped child or the hapless casualty of malevolent muckrakers.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 or 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to speak with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line.
How to get help: In the U.S. call the National Eating Disorders Association helpline at 1-800-931-2237.
