Paul Burrell has refuted claims the late Princess of Wales was “unstable” or a “loose cannon” after she left the British royal family insisting “she was not any of those things”.
The 62-year-old former royal butler was appeared on UK TV show ‘Good Morning Britain’ to discuss the fall out from the recent rulings on Princess Diana’s controversial 1995 BBC interview with Martin Bashir – which came three years after she separated from her husband Prince Charles in 1992, with the couple eventually divorcing in 1996 – and he was adamant that despite it showing a woman who was “hurt” and is “pouring her heart out” she did not regret the televised interview.
He said: “I can’t watch it, I can’t watch her pouring out her heart. This is a woman that is hurt, you can see that you can hear her words.
“But don’t discount her, don’t say she was unstable like other people are saying. There are people out there saying that she was unstable, unreliable, insecure, that she was a loose cannon. She was not any of those things, she was informed.”
Last week, former Supreme Court Judge Lord Dyson concluded his independent inquiry on the ‘Panorama’ interview and stated that Bashir used forged bank statements to secure access to Princess Diana, and said that the BBC was “woefully ineffective” in getting to the bottom of his wrongdoing at the time.
Dyson’s investigation also found that Bashir “deceived” his way to the interview that made his name, while the BBC “fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark”.
Following the findings of the report, BBC director general Tim Davie said in a statement: “Although the report states that Diana, Princess of Wales, was keen on the idea of an interview with the BBC, it is clear that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. We are very sorry for this. Lord Dyson has identified clear failings.
“While today’s BBC has significantly better processes and procedures, those that existed at the time should have prevented the interview being secured in this way. The BBC should have made greater effort to get to the bottom of what happened at the time and been more transparent about what it knew. While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today.”
Bashir also acknowledged his error of judgement in his own statement.
He said: “This is the second time that I have willingly fully co-operated with an investigation into events more than 25 years ago. I apologised then, and I do so again now, over the fact that I asked for bank statements to be mocked up. It was a stupid thing to do and was an action I deeply regret. But I absolutely stand by the evidence I gave a quarter of a century ago, and again more recently.”
In response to the findings, the BBC has agreed to give back the BAFTA it won for Best Television Talk Show for ‘Panorama Interview With HRH The Princess Of Wales’ at the 1996 ceremony.