PRINCESS TAPES ROW who Diana

said: “The tapes were private. It doesn’t matter if the princess is alive or dead, private should mean private. It’s obvious Mr Settelen is making them public for whatever gains he is going to make out of it. “Selling tapes like this is grubby blood money.” But Diana’s former private secretary Patrick Jephson has defended the broadcaster’s decision.

Mr Jephson, who worked for Diana between 1988 and 1996, said: “At a time when, to their great credit, both her children are encouraging us to remember their mother in a positive light, this film is well-timed, well-made and well-intentioned.”

The film reveals a “thoughtful, often funny Princess” telling her own story her own way, he added.

Despite his financial success, Settelen now lives a different life, worlds away from starring in TV and films – including Coronation Street, mini-series Pride and Prejudice and blockbuster A Bridge Too Far – and receiving regular invites to Kensington Palace.

Six of the tapes had been seized in a 2001 raid on the home of Diana’s butler Paul Burrell, who was charged with stealing items belonging to his late employer. But his trial collapsed after just nine days when the Queen intervened to halt it.

Settelen sued to get the tapes back and vowed never to sell them out of respect for the late princess’ privacy, before later changing his mind.

Pension

But the lawyer who brokered the sale of “the Diana tapes” says the tapes are no longer private.

Marcus Rutherford, who represents Settelen, said: “The fact is that after Diana’s death and being found in the possession of her former butler Paul Burrell, the claim to privacy failed because the police looked at them, the Spencer family looked at them.”

He added that it was clear at the time she recorded them – five years before her 1997 death in Paris – Diana wanted the world to know of her divorce hell.

Ingrid Seward, a biographer who last spoke to Diana weeks before the tragedy has said Diana was warned about being so open with Settelen.

She said: “I think one of her friends told her ‘you need to be a bit careful, one day this guy will make his pension out of this’.”

Companies House shows Settelen’s firm Chakra Productions’ net worth peaked at £448,551, coinciding with the sale of the Diana tapes to NBC.

But all company accounts have been abbreviated, meaning the business has never declared its turnover or disclosed how much Settelen was paid. Settelen, of Hampton, declined to comment. In his book Just Talk to Me, he wrote: “This book has become a small epitaph to an extraordinary woman, who managed in the last few years of her life to truly make a difference...if it helps someone else find their voice and speak out too – all well and good.”

Ralph Lee, deputy chief creative officer for Channel 4, defended the decision to air the tapes, describing them as historically important.