Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Why Di decided to bare her soul
Channel 4, 9pm ANYONE who wasn’t living under a rock in 1995 will remember THAT Diana interview for BBC Panorama.
Peering at her interviewer Martin Bashir with wide, mournful eyes, elegant in a black blazer and skirt, Diana Princess of Wales wanted to finally set the record straight. It had been nearly three years since her separation from Prince Charles. Feeling shunned by the Royal Family, she decided it was time to tell all.
A staggering 22.8 million viewers were stunned as she revealed she knew of Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker-bowles, saying: “Well there were three of us in thi s marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
Diana also revealed she struggled w i t h b u l i mi a a n d p o st - n a t a l depression. And the shock interview became one of the most momentous programmes in television history.
Its revelations stunned the world, also painting the monarchy as cruel and oppressive.
Diana, who died just two years later in a Paris car crash aged just 36, talked about her future and that of her two boys William and Harry.
She talked about the pressures of marrying into the Royal Family, the media attention and referred to herself as a “product that sells”. She also hinted at a toxic feud with the royal household after her marriage broke down.
She said: “I was a problem. I was seen as a liability. They see me as a threat. But I’m here to do good.”
Tw e n ty - f i v e y e a r s o n , this documentary investigates how she was persuaded to tell all.
With access to key BBC insiders, documents and people who knew and worked closely with the princess, it pieces together the full story.