Now that the investigation into the BBC Panorama interview between Martin Bashir and Princess Diana has concluded, the journalist has a lot of explaining to do. He has remarked several times that he’s “deeply sorry” (the latest apology came in the Sunday Times) to both Prince William and Prince Harry after they issued statements regarding the outcome of the report. Yet Bashir isn’t willing to take all of the blame in this situation, especially when it comes to the death of Princess Diana.
On Thursday night, the BBC aired a new Panorama documentary with Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, who harbors resentment against Bashir for taking advantage of their friendship to gain access to his sister. “The irony is that I met Martin Bashir on the 31 of August 1995, because exactly two years later she died. And I do draw a line between the two events,” he said on the show, per CNN.
But that’s where the TV interviewer is pushing back because he doesn’t believe he can “be held responsible for many of the other things that were going on in her life” and thinks it’s “unfair” for anyone to assume he is “singularly responsible.” He emphasized to the Sunday Times that there’s a “difficult relationship between the royal family and the media” and the palace needs to examine that complicated situation more closely.
A statement on today’s report of The Dyson Investigation pic.twitter.com/uS62CNwiI8
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) May 20, 2021
Bashir isn’t wrong for pointing out that the royal family courts the media when they need them, but then slams them when the headlines don’t go their way. It’s something the world is currently watching play out in real-time with the family feud between Prince Harry and the rest of the senior royals. However, Bashir needs to own his part that his deceptive ways as a member of the press, who “played on her fears and fueled paranoia” in the years before her death, as pointed out by Prince William this week.
The investigation just reminds everyone of what a tragedy Princess Diana’s passing is almost 24 years later, and we all know now that it probably could have been avoided.
Before you go, click here to see the best photos of Princess Diana playing with William and Harry.
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