Prince Harry Says Diana ‘Lost Her Life’ Due To BBC’s Controversial Interview, Can’t ‘Lose Another Woman’

Jan 06, 2022 by apost team

In the royal family, marriages are held in high regard, and marital issues were not publicly talked about. A royal divorce was unheard of until Charles and Diana came out to the public with the news of their divorce. It wasn't all that shocking since there were constant rumors over the years of Charles having an affair with his now current wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, while he was still married to Diana.

Diana was open about the troubles in her marriage to Charles and even confronted Camilla about their affair in 1989. Diana and Charles separated in 1992, just a decade into their marriage. The issue could no longer stay hidden from the public once Charles confessed to the infidelity claims in 1994. Even before that, close observers of the royal family had had an inkling as to what was happening.

However, behind the scenes, Diana suffered greatly during the couple's split — and not only because their marriage suffered due to infidelity. Diana had frequently complained about the British media's behavior towards her, feeling that she was persecuted and followed everywhere. After their marriage problems became public, this feeling intensified. She even blamed the royal family for not doing enough to discourage reporters from hounding her.

In an independent inquiry that concluded on May 20, investigators — headed by retired judge John Dyson — found that Martin Bashir, the BBC reporter who conducted Diana's infamous Panorama interview in 1995, gained access to the princess with forged documents.

Like his brother, Prince Harry condemned what happened, and has made his thoughts clear about how the media has been treating his mother as well as his wife, Meghan Markle. 

In November 1995, the BBC aired a Panorama interview, featuring Princess Diana and the reporter and interviewer Martin Bashir. The interview came at a time when interest in the marriage troubles of the royal couple was high. In fact, the program was so popular that it precipitated Bashir's career breakthrough.

In May 2021, it become known that part of this blame and resentment that Diana expressed in the infamous interview was based on information Bashir had given her in order to gain her approval for the interview. He claimed her car and phone lines were bugged and that spies of the royal family were reading her mail.

Part of his proof of this were bank statements that, according to Bashir, proved that the royal family had been bribing Diana's security detail and secretary to spy on her for them. These statements were later proven to be forgeries based on forgeries. The recent investigation also proved that Bashir's higher-ups learned of the forgery and covered it up.

According to PEOPLE, Harry said in a statement, "Our mother was an incredible woman who dedicated her life to service. She was resilient, brave, and unquestionably honest. The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life." 

While he thanked the people who were involved for finally taking accountability, he also added, "Yet what deeply concerns me is that practices like these— and even worse—are still widespread today. Then, and now, it's bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication."

He ended his statement by writing, "Our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed. By protecting her legacy, we protect everyone, and uphold the dignity with which she lived her life. Let's remember who she was and what she stood for." 

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Harry has spoken out against the media in the past as well and criticized their treatment of Meghan. A lot of the struggles that Meghan and Harry faced were touched upon by the couple in early 202 when they sat down for a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. The couple also embarked on a docuseries project for mental health awareness with Winfrey titled "The Me You Can't See." In this series, Harry spoke out against the media for their treatment of his wife.

"Within the first eight days of our relationship being made public was when they said, ‘Harry’s girl almost straight outta Compton.’ And that her exotic DNA will be thickening the royal blood," Harry said of the media’s treatment of Markle in the documentary series, according to The Independent. "We would get followed, photographed, chased, harassed."

Harry then makes a comparison between the hate Markle has faced and the racism that his mother and Egyptian boyfriend experienced in the late 1990s, saying that “history was repeating itself.”

"My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn’t white," Harry added. "And now look what’s happened. You wanna talk about history repeating itself, they’re not gonna stop until she dies," and added, "It's incredibly triggering to potentially lose another woman in my life..."

Given that Harry says this history of harassment has repeated itself, the former working royal explained that he regretted not speaking out earlier about the racism his wife faced. According to The Independent, the prince said his biggest regret was “not making more of a stance earlier on in my relationship with my wife and calling out the racism when I did.”

What do you think about Prince Harry's comparisons? Tell us your thoughts, and be sure to ask your friends what they think about it as well.