Prince Harry and Prince William both shared their own statements on the findings of the investigation into the BBC reporter that lied to Princess Diana.
The investigative report, released Thursday, claimed the BBC “covered up” a reporter’s “deceitful behavior” used to obtain an interview with Princess Diana back in 1995. Journalist Martin Bashir did go against the BBC’s ethical guidelines by using falsified bank statements to gain access to Princess Diana, according to the investigation.
The report also found that the BBC Press Office told journalists that Bashir was an “an honest and honourable man” despite previously knowing he had falsified the bank statements. The report stated that multiple senior officials knew that Bashir had lied. (RELATED: BBC ‘Covered Up’ Martin Bashir Lying To Get Interview With Princess Diana, Report Says)
“Our mother was an incredible woman who dedicated her life to service,” Prince Harry said in a statement, People magazine reported. “She was resilient, brave, and unquestionably honest. The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life.”
“The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life,” Prince Harry said. “To those who have taken some form of accountability, thank you for owning it. That is the first step toward justice and truth” https://t.co/6Aia6hmTEm
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 20, 2021
“To those who have taken some form of accountability, thank you for owning it,” he added. “That is the first step towards justice and truth. 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.”
The 1995 interview between Bashir and Princess Diana came as her marriage was falling apart. She told Bashir during the interview there were “three of us,” referring to Camilla Parker Bowles’ alleged affair with Prince Charles. The Prince would later marry Bowles after Diana’s death.
“For the reasons that I have given, I am satisfied that the BBC covered up in its press logs such facts as it had been able to establish about how Bashir secured the interview,” Dyson concluded in the report.
“Our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed,” Prince Harry added. “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.”
Prince William also released his own statement condemning the actions of the BBC.
“I would like to thank Lord Dyson and his team for the report. It is welcome that the BBC accepts Lord Dyson’s findings in full – which are extremely concerning – that 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 fueled paranoia; displayed woeful incompetence when investigating complaints and concerns about the program; and were evasive in their reporting to the media and covered up what they knew from their internal investigation,” Prince William said.
“It is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said,” he continued. “The interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others. It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her,” he said.
“But what saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived,” Prince William added. “She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions.”