Prince William and Prince Harry Come Together Despite Royal Drama to Condemn BBC Princess Diana Interview

Prince William and Prince Harry put together a united front in their response to the BBC's [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Prince William and Prince Harry put together a united front in their response to the BBC's investigation into Martin Bashir's famous 1995 BBC Panorama interview with their late mother, Princess Diana. In his video statement, the Duke of Cambridge said it brought "indescribable sadness" to learn that the BBC's failures in the mid-1990s played a role in Diana's "fear, paranoia and isolation" that William remembered from his mother's final years.

"I would like to thank Lord Dyson and his team for the report," William said at the start of his statement, referring to judge John Anthony Dyson, who led the independent investigation, reports PEOPLE. "It is welcome that the BBC accepts Lord Dyson's findings in full – which are extremely concerning – that BBC employees: lied and used fake documents to obtain the interview with my mother; made lurid and false claims about the Royal Family which played on her fears and fuelled paranoia; displayed woeful incompetence when investigating complaints and concerns about the program, and were evasive in their reporting to the media and covered up what they knew from their internal investigation."

William said he believes the "deceitful way" in which Bashir got the interview influenced what Diana told the journalist. "The interview was a major contribution to making my parents' relationship worse and has since hurt countless others," William said. "It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC's failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia, and isolation that I remember from those final years with her."

William went on to criticize the BBC for continuing to use the interview and to not property investigate claims of wrongdoing in 1995. "She 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," he said. William, who is second in line to the British throne, demanded that the BBC stop commercializing the interview and airing it. However, the BBC did air a special on its findings titled Princess Diana, Martin Bashir, and the BBC on Thursday night.

"This settled narrative now needs to be addressed by the BBC and anyone else who has written or intends to write about these events," William concluded. "In an era of fake news, public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important. These failings, identified by investigative journalists, not only let my mother down, and my family down; they let the public down too."

Harry issued his own statement. He joined his older brother in criticizing the media. "To those who have taken some form of responsibility, thank you for owning it," the Duke of Sussex said. "That is the first step towards justice and truth. Yet what deeply concerns me is that practices like these - and even worse - are still widespread today. Then, and now, it's bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication."

"Our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed," Harry continued. "By protecting her legacy, we protect everyone and uphold the dignity with which she lived her life. Let's remember who she was and what she stood for."

The new investigation into Bashir's interview with Diana found that the journalist acted in a "deceitful" way to get the interview, in which Diana famously criticized the Royal Family. In one of the most famous moments of the interview, Diana said there were "three of us in this marriage," referring to Prince Charles' affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles. After the Daily Mail published a letter from Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, in which he accused the BBC of taking unethical actions to get the interview, the BBC began a new independent investigation into how Bashir secured the interview. The report found that Bashir "deceived" the Earl of Spencer with false information to get an introduction to Diana, which then led to the interview being set up. Diana and Prince Charles divorced in 1996. In 1997, Diana tragically died in a Paris car crash.

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