Prince Harry goes against stern request made by William in Netflix documentary

Royal appeared to go against his older brother’s wishes in Volume I of his Netflix documentary with Meghan Markle

Kate Ng
Friday 09 December 2022 15:00 GMT
Harry compares Meghan to Princess Diana
Leer en Español

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Duke of Sussex has defied his brother, the Prince of Wales’s wish for their mother’s controversial Panorama interview to never be aired again.

In his and the Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix documentary series, Harry and Meghan, segments from the late Diana, Princess of Wales’s interview with the BBC journalist Martin Bashir, were shown.

Footage of Diana talking about the public and press scrutiny on her life first aired in the 1995 interview, which Prince William said made his mother’s sense of “fear, paranoia and isolation” worse.

Last year, a report by Lord Dyson found that the BBC covered up Bashir’s deceit in obtaining the interview and “fell short of high standards of integrity and transparency”.

The journalist was in “serious breach” of the BBC’s producer guidelines after it was discovered that he faked bank statements and showed them to Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, in order to gain access to her.

Following the report, William sharply rebuked the BBC and said: “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.

“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.”

He added: “It is my firm view that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others.”

At the time, Prince Harry said of the report that he was deeply concerned that journalistic practices like those of Bashir were “widespread today” and “bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication”.

“The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life,” he added.

In the first episode of Harry and Meghan, the duke is seen speaking about Diana’s struggles with how intrusive the press were.

He said: “I think she had a lived experience of how she was struggling living that life. She felt compelled to talk about it.

The princess during her 1995 Panorama interview with Martin Bashir (BBC/PA)
The princess during her 1995 Panorama interview with Martin Bashir (BBC/PA) (PA Media)

“Especially in that Panorama interview. I think we all now know that she was deceived into giving the interview. But at the same time she spoke the truth of her experience.”

A clip of Diana is then shown, in which she said: “I still to this day find the interest daunting and phenomenal. Because I actually don’t like being the centre of attention.

“When I have my public duties, I understand when I get out the car I’m being photographed. But actually, it’s now when I go out of my door, my front door, I’m being photographed. I never know where a lens is going to be.”

It has been reported that Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, and members of the royal family were not approached for comment on the content of Harry and Meghan’s series.

According to the PA news agency, a senior palace source countered the written statement at the beginning of episode one that reads: “Members of the royal family declined to comment on the content within this series.”

Follow live updates here.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in