William's fury as Harry and Meghan Netflix doc shows Diana's infamous interview despite request it never be aired again
8 December 2022, 09:02 | Updated: 8 December 2022, 12:41
Harry and Meghan's new Netflix series shows Princess Diana's infamous interview with Martin Bashir despite Prince William's demand that it never be broadcast again.
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The Prince of Wales said that the controversial Panorama one-on-one should not be put out again after the BBC found it was secured through deception.
He said it had added to her fear and paranoia in the wake of his parents' separation.
But in the first episode, which came out on Thursday morning, Prince Harry talks about media intrusion on the royal family and the Bashir interview before an extract is played.
Its inclusion in the documentary will make William angry, a source close to the Prince of Wales said.
"He will be rightly furious about it. He couldn't have been clearer in the past and this is one thing he would have thought he and Harry were aligned on," the source said.
"Sadly once more it shows the gulf between the two brothers couldn't be wider."
After a segment where Diana tells off a photographer for recording her and her family during a holiday in Switzerland, Harry says: "I think she had a lived experience of how she was struggling living that life.
"She felt compelled to talk about it."
The Panorama intro graphics are then shown.
"Especially that Panorama interview. I think we all now know she was deceived into giving the interview, but at the same time she spoke the truth of her experience."
The segment from the interview from November 1995 shows Diana talk about the "daunting and phenomenal" press interest in her life and her family.
An inquiry found Bashir acted in a "deceitful" way and faked documents to secure the interview with Diana. In the programme, Diana said there were "three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded".
William later said it should not be shown again because of the way it was obtained and the impact it had on his mother.
"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," he 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."
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."
The first three episodes of the documentary dropped on the streaming giant on Sunday.
The first episode details how Harry and Meghan met and dated before explaining the background to Harry’s life, including the press interest in Harry during his childhood and the period when Charles and Diana divorced.
It has been claimed the royals will not watch it but officials at Buckingham and Kensington Palace will.
Reports say the royals will probably try and avoid responding to the show, but are prepared to rapidly hit back if anything they consider to be “unjust accusations” emerges.
The documentary also starts with Netflix saying the royals declined to comment on the show.
