Earl Spencer has accused the BBC of making an “utterly outrageous” claim in its coverage of Princess Diana’s Panorama interview.
The Earl is said to have been “infuriated” by a BBC News report about the Martin Bashir scandal, due to an inaccuracy in a story by the corporation.
The report on the BBC News website said Diana’s brother had “waited 25 years before revealing the truth”.
However, he is known to have written to the BBC in 2005, voicing concerns about the conduct of Panorama staff, in a letter to Mark Thompson, the director-general at the time.
Earl Spencer is said to be ‘infuriated’ by the BBC
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GETTYA new complaint has been released, which was sent to the BBC by Andy Webb, author of Dianarama.
It said: “Earl Spencer has confirmed that he shares my sense of astonishment at the BBC’s actions… and formally associates himself with my complaint to you…
“Your allegation that Earl Spencer ‘waited 25 years before revealing the truth’ is utterly outrageous.”
The BBC was forced to correct its article following the complaint, as revealed by The Sunday Times.
Nearly 23 million people watched the interview with Princess Diana and Mr Bashir, whose tactics have been scrutinised in Mr Webb’s new book.
Some concerns were raised in the aftermath about how Mr Bashir obtained the interview; the wider picture only started entering the public eye five years ago.
The news story published by the BBC on November 20 said Earl Spencer had not spoken out earlier due to concerns that any criticisms would have made his sister appear gullible.
However, the Earl had contacted Mr Thompson after being approached to appear in a BBC documentary called “The Princess and Panorama”.
The Earl has accused the BBC of an ‘utterly outrageous’ claim about him
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GETTY
The Earl wrote: “Based on the documents I have at Althorp [the Spencer family home] – including notes I took at the time in my own hand – which prove Panorama’s role in this matter to have been less than honest, I must register my astonishment that the BBC wishes to revisit this moment in its fine journalistic history.”
Mr Thompson, who is now the chief executive of CNN, said he never saw the letter.
It was released in 2022 under the freedom of information laws, alongside a BBC stamp which read: “Governance and Accountability correspondence”.
A BBC insider said the false claim was “a mistake, not a conspiracy”, and the complaint had been “looked at very quickly”.
A BBC insider said the false claim was ‘a mistake, not a conspiracy’
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GETTYMr Webb also claims the BBC’s Royal Charter will be in limbo under Prince William over the corporation’s conduct with the interview.
He told the Mail: “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.”
Mr Webb highlighted the paradox of the corporation operating under royal authority whilst lacking the trust of the future monarch.
He told the publication: “I make this reference in the book, but it’s too ironic for words that the BBC operates 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.”
In 2021, William criticised the BBC for its failings around his mother’s Panorama interview, which he claimed exacerbated her “fear, paranoia and isolation”.
GB News has contacted Kensington Palace for comment.