William Still ‘Determined to Discover Exactly What Happened’ to Diana as Sources Claim He Has ‘People on the Case’ to Investigate Every ‘Conspiracy’
The death of Princess Diana shook not just the UK but the entire world. Part of it has to do with how beloved she was, and another part with the way she died, so suddenly and violently. It was, without a doubt, a tragedy, and one was more touched by it than Diana’s family, especially her kids.
And those kids have done their best to keep the legacy of their mother alive. And one of the things William, in particular, has reportedly been interested, is Diana’s famous Panorama interview where Diana disclosed Charles’ affair with Camilla.
Related: Who inherited what from Princess Diana?
How did that come to pass? Andy Webb, author of Dianarama: The Betrayal of Princess Diana has spent years investigating with the help of Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer. He told HELLO! About it, “I really do think that it’s an important story, particularly when you look at the effects on Diana’s family, on Prince William and on Charles Spencer,” he said, “I always try to stand back from the fact that these are royals, because they are real people.”
The book goes into the deceitful methods used to secure the interview, which was broadcast on 20 November 1995, and the interest in figuring out what happened that exists to this day.
“I think, of late, William is really showing us that he’s somebody who knows his own mind. He’s not afraid, and he knows right from wrong,” Webb said. “He’s determined to discover exactly what happened back in the day, as he doesn’t feel the official inquiry has provided sufficient answers.”
There was indeed an independent investigation into how the interview was obtained, done 25 years later. “It’s an open wound, and [William] has people on the case to help discover exactly what happened,” the author added.
William said years ago that it brought him “indescribable sadness” that the BBC not telling Diana the truth once they discovered the journalist’s methods for obtaining the interview, “contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia, and isolation that I remember from her final years”.
Among the things the journalist told Diana at the time was that William, then only 13, was given a watch by his father with a recording device to spy on her. He also claimed Charles was in love with the children’s nanny, Tiggy Legge-Bourke, and that Diana’s private secretary, Patrick Jephson, was being paid to spy on her. Martin Bashir, the journalist, backed up his claims with forged bank statements.
“When William became aware of the absolute scale and complexity of the duplicity, that must have been heartbreaking for him, because he began to realise the enormous pressures that his mum had been placed under,” Webb said.
But he goes even farther. “There is a line that can be drawn between Panorama and Paris,” he said. “Because of the falsehoods Diana had been told, she pushed aside people she no longer trusted, like Patrick Jephson, who had been that protective voice of wisdom. A month after that interview, Diana got a letter from the Queen saying it was time to get divorced, and before long she finds herself in Paris.”
The story is much more complicated than we knew at the time, and the repercussions of that single interview can still be felt in the royal family.
