Princess Diana's explosive interview with Panorama is again at the center of a controversy after her brother accused the journalist of yellow journalism.
What can be harder than telling your child that your marriage has fallen apart and the world is about to find out about it? Normal folks like us can't imagine the pressures Princess Diana lived with and the sacrifices she had to make for the royal family. However, the feisty princess put a stop to her unhappy marriage by taking control of the situation. In the process, she had to reveal an explosive truth to her eldest son, who is going to be the future king.
The Prince and Princess of Wales separated in 1992 and three years after that Diana decided to reveal to the world the reason for their separation. She told BBC's Panorama that her husband had been having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. "Well there were three of us in this marriage so it was bit crowded," this statement by the princess has never been erased from Charles' life. However, before telling the world, she had to prepare her children for the truth and she decided to start with Prince William.
She told the journalist, Martin Bashir, who interviewed her for BBC, about the way she revealed Charles' affair to William. "I went to the school and put it to William, particularly, that if you find someone you love in life you must hang on to it and look after it, and if you were lucky enough to find someone who loved you then one must protect it," she recalled saying.
The princess continued, "William asked me what had been going on, and could I answer his questions, which I did. He said, was that the reason why our marriage had broken up? And I said, well, there were three of us in this marriage, and the pressure of the media was another factor, so the two together were very difficult." She reportedly said to William, "Although I still loved Papa I couldn’t live under the same roof as him, and likewise with him."
She added that she was worried about how her son would react to it. "He’s a child that’s a deep thinker, and we don’t know for a few years how it’s gone in," she said. "But I put it in gently, without resentment or any anger."
Writes CheatSheet, many people in the royal home, including William, were angry at her for revealing the details. In the documentary William and Harry: Brothers in Arms, Vanity Fair’s Royal Correspondent Katie Nicholl said, "William was exposed to everything from the interview and called his mother in a fury and a rage."
Nicholl revealed that it "was the one time William turned on his mother and said, that he would never forgive Diana for what she’d done. He simply could not believe that his mother had invited the television cameras into the home he had grown up in and loved, to betray his father and their family in such a public way."
However, she didn't tell Prince Harry and he allegedly heard of the affair while watching a program titled Diana: The Woman Inside. He was too young to understand what it meant and asked about Camilla.
Bashir, who interviewed Diana, might face an inquiry over how he secured the interview with the princess. Charles Spencer, her brother, has accused him of "yellow journalism," according to Daily Mail. The inquiry is pending as the 57-year-old journalist is suffering from COVID19.
The BBC interview had single-handedly forced Charles to spend months, some might even say years, repairing his image and also go public to win over citizens to his side. Reports the New York Times, during an interview, the prince revealed that he had been faithful to her "until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried." His honesty cost him his reputation again. He said that he wasn't considered divorce but it was no a barrier for him towards becoming king. He also denied being in a relationship with Camilla, whom he referred to as a "great friend."
References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/panorama.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/30/world/prince-charles-in-tv-documentary-admits-to-infidelity.html
