Prince William ‘doesn’t trust’ BBC due to network’s interview with Princess Diana

Prince William is still reeling from the repercussions of Princess Diana’s interview on the BBC programme Panorama, and may not renew the broadcaster’s Royal Charter, a writer has claimed.

According to Andy Webb, author of the upcoming book Dianarama: The Betrayal of Princess Diana, the Prince of Wales considers BBC a significant culprit for the course which his mother’s life took after her interview with them.

“The wound we’re talking about is the vast uncertainty about whether his mother’s life had to follow the course it did or, had the BBC management done something different, it would have followed an entirely different course,” he told the Daily Mail.

As writer of the book which explores the controversy behind Diana’s notorious TV appearance, including Panorama team’s dubious way of securing the interview, Webb further noted the irony of BBC operating “under a Royal Charter”.

“Well, if the future King issuing the Royal Charter doesn’t trust Britain’s public broadcaster, there’s a big problem,” he added.

Stating that William is now “seven years older than his mother was when she died” and that his son, Prince George, is only a year younger than he was when Diana’s interview had aired, Webb claimed, “So, it’s getting into your head that this really matters; it matters to some living, breathing human beings.”

For context, Panorama’s interview with Princess Diana had revealed several royal secrets about her marriage to the then Prince Charles, among others. Though the episode’s host, Martin Bashir, gathered huge acclaim as the interviewer, including a BAFTA victory, reports later emerged that Bashir and his show’s team had forged certain documents which made the late Princess fear for her life and sit down for a tell-all interview due to the implied paranoia.

Prince William previously criticised the BBC in 2021, shortly after the scandal became public, saying in a recorded statement that the “BBC employees lied and used fake documents to obtain the interview with my mother, made lurid and false claims about the royal family which played on her fears and fuelled paranoia.”