Earl Spencer hopes Princess Diana would be ‘pleased the truth is out’ about 1995 BBC interview

BBC’s Martin Bashir used ‘deceitful behaviour’ to secure a Panorama interview with Princess Diana, found an independent inquiry

Earl Spencer has said he hopes his sister, Princess Diana, would be “pleased that the truth” regarding her 1995 BBC interview is now public.

In 1995, Diana took part in a BBC Panorama interview conducted by journalist Martin Bashir.

The coveted interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, was secured by Bashir using “deceitful behaviour”, a report published last month found.

In the scathing report, Lord Dyson concluded that the TV broadcaster covered up Bashir’s conduct, which was used in order to secure the interview, including having false bank statements made to gain access to her.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, Earl Spencer said: “I hope she’d be pleased the truth is out to the context. She was taken into a very dark place … [Prince] William referred to you know, her paranoia was fed.”

After Lord Dyson’s report was released in May, both of Princess Diana’s sons issued strongly-worded statements.

Prince 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.”

His brother, Prince Harry, echoed his sentiments, saying that a “culture of exploitation and unethical practices” ultimately took his mother’s life.

Diana’s brother had a hand in setting Bashir up with Diana and said he was “fully supportive” if Diana had wanted to speak to the media.

Earl Spencer said: “I’ve got no problem at all. I’d have been 100 per cent supportive if she’d chosen to speak to anyone, it [was] absolutely her entitlement.

“But the circumstances in which she was duped into speaking, that set the tone for the conversation and that’s unforgivable, especially coming from the BBC. I’m sorry that they’re held to a higher standard than others, but you know, you do expect them to play it straight.”

In a statement following Lord Dyson’s report into how Panorama and Bashir secured the interview, the BBC’s current director-general Tim Davie apologised for the past failures.

Davie said: “While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today.”