Charles Spencer Opens Up About His "Eternal Regret" and the Fallout of Diana's Panorama Interview
Spencer has pointed out in his memoir that the infamous Panorama interview triggered events leading to Diana's death in Paris in 1997.
Princess Diana's BBC Panorama interview marked a major turning point in her relationship with King Charles. Her famous quote, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," directly referenced Charles's admission of infidelity during his televised interview with broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby on June 29, 1994. Former journalist Martin Bashir is widely known to have manipulated the late Princess of Wales into giving the interview by exploiting her security concerns. In his memoir Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, her brother Charles Spencer details his turmoil over her decision to participate, opening up about his own vulnerabilities.
Earl Spencer expressed profound guilt for not stopping Bashir's 1995 Panorama interview, labeling the British journalist an "appalling, self-serving fraud." Spencer went on to claim that a "direct line" can be traced from that interview to his sister's tragic car crash two years later. "It is to my eternal regret that what I saw as my clear warnings to Diana about Bashir failed to see him off," he wrote.
In his memoir, Spencer noted that Bashir insisted on an urgent meeting before traveling to Althorp and sharing his commitment to Christianity, which Spencer viewed as a mark of credibility. Bashir then convinced the Earl that Diana was being monitored by British agents, presenting fake bank statements that were later identified as forgeries, unraveling the deception behind the historic television interview.
The book continued that during a subsequent meeting at a friend's flat, with Diana present, Bashir made a series of outrageous assertions, leading Spencer to conclude the journalist was untrustworthy. "I could not wait to escort Bashir out of my friend's flat and get him as far away from Diana as possible," the Earl wrote. He also revealed asking Diana's forgiveness "for wasting her time." "I thought I had said enough after he left the secret meeting in my friend's flat. But, clearly, I had not," Spencer added. "He managed to slide back into Diana's life, ensnaring her with lies and manipulation."
According to GB News, Spencer noted in his memoir that the infamous Panorama interview set off a chain of events that ultimately led to Diana's death in Paris in 1997. Crucially, her security team was dismissed following Bashir's false claims that her staff were government informants, leaving her without her usual protection and culminating in Henri Paul, who was over the legal drink-driving limit, driving her on that fatal night. In July 2022, following an inquiry by Lord Dyson that exposed the deceitful tactics Bashir used to secure the interview, the BBC issued a formal apology to the royal family and pledged never to air the broadcast again.
