Princess Diana's Ex-Boyfriend Hasnat Khan Gives His Take On Her Controversial BBC Interview

Jan 19, 2022 by apost team

The media and press have influence over what news stories get told, but they can also impact the lives of the individuals on which they are reporting. This was the case for Princess Diana, whose privacy was notoriously invaded by the press, and especially so during an interview on Nov. 20, 1995. Some have argued that there had also been manipulation from BBC journalist Martin Bashir and that the "Panorama" interview was deceitful. A friend of the royals said the interview's impact could have affected the outcome of Princess Diana's life. 

After years of silence, heart surgeon and Princess Diana's ex-boyfriend, Hasnat Khan, has opened up and shared what he knows about the interview and Diana's relationship with Bashir in an interview with The Daily Mail on Jan. 8, 2021.
Khan agrees with her brother, Charles Spencer, that Bashir was manipulative and made false claims about Prince Charles and falsified bank statements so he could get closer to Princess Diana and conduct his interview.

Khan and Spencer also maintain that Bashir lied to Diana about her closest friends and loved ones spying on her and tapping her phones. This led to a sense of paranoia for the princess, who already had her plate full with her responsibilities and raising two sons. Khan said he knows that there was a part of Diana that wanted to give an interview, but he still thinks she only went through with it because Bashir was persuading her.

Those who keep up with the royal family will remember that the "Panorama" interview contained some controversial topics like Princess Diana's experience with bulimia, her separation from Prince Charles, and the pressures of raising two sons on top of it all. Keep reading to learn more of the details that Khan had to share.  

Princess Diana's friend Rosa Monckton said that the controversy from the interview caused the divorce proceedings between the princess and Prince Charles to be settled more quickly. Monckton feels this led to a series of decisions that ended with the royal's passing. Monckton said:

"Among those decisions was the fact that Diana lost her royal title. Had she retained it, she would have still been in the embrace of the Royal Family when in Paris on August 31, 1997. And she would almost certainly not have been in the incapable hands of a speeding drunk driver employed by Mohamed Al-Fayed, who owned the Ritz Hotel where she and his son, Dodi, had dined."

Diana's brother is still pursuing the BBC and wants repercussions for the company that backed Bashir. "(The BBC) have yet to apologize for what truly matters here: the incredibly serious falsification of bank statements suggesting that Diana's closest confidants were spying on her for her enemies," Charles Spencer said.

The company announced in November 2021 that an official investigation into the princess's appearance on "Panorama" is to be led by former British Supreme Court Judge John Dyson. BBC Director-General Tim Davie said, "The BBC is determined to get to the truth about these events and that is why we have commissioned an independent investigation."

Prince William said in a statement, "The independent investigation is a step in the right direction. It should help establish the truth behind the actions that led to the 'Panorama' interview and subsequent decisions taken by those in the BBC at the time."

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After staying away from the public eye for years, Hasnat Khan has come forward to share what he knows about Princess Diana's relationship with Bashir. "One of her most attractive qualities was her vulnerability. It was what endeared her to the public. I later realized that Martin picked on those vulnerabilities and exploited them," Khan said, according to People. 

One of the details he shared was that Bashir had told Diana that her phone was being tapped and she was being spied on. He also told her that Prince Charles was sleeping with her sons' nanny, Tiggy Legge-Bourke. Khan said, "He was very persuasive with Diana. It was all about him being from the BBC, being respectable and very pious even. But he filled her head with rubbish."

Khan's own first-hand experiences with Bashir also led him to distrust the journalist. "Almost from the word go, he started asking me the most direct personal questions about Diana and our relationship. Why didn't we get married? When were we going to get married? That kind of thing. There was something about Bashir I didn't like. I told her to be careful of him," Khan shared. 

To this day, Khan questions if Princess Diana truly wanted to share her personal information so candidly in the interview. The heart surgeon added: "Of course, I am not naïve. I knew that there was a part of Diana that wanted to give an interview but my question is if Martin Bashir had not been there persuading her, would she ever have done it?" 

Do you think Bashir manipulated Princess Diana into doing the interview? Let us know your opinion, and be sure to pass this along to all the Royal Family fans in your life.