- Princess Diana's explosive BBC Panorama interview in 1995 shocked royal fans—and members of the royal family, including her then-teenage son, Prince William (opens in new tab).
- William reportedly took the interview very hard and was discovered after by his Eton housemaster, slumped over and visibly shaken.
- "Before the 58 minutes ended, William was weeping," according to royal historian and biographer Robert Lacey (opens in new tab).
In 1995, Princess Diana (opens in new tab) broke all kinds of royal precedent and protocol when she sat down for an explosive, tell-all interview (opens in new tab) with journalist Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama (opens in new tab). In the now-infamous interview, Diana candidly discussed the breakdown of her marriage (opens in new tab) to Prince Charles, including his affair with his now-wife Camilla Parker Bowles and her own affair with James Hewitt.
Diana's oldest son, Prince William (opens in new tab), was 13 years old when the interview aired and, by all accounts, it had a huge impact on him.
According to The Mirror (opens in new tab), royal historian and biographer Robert Lacey explained that William actually "wept" while watching the interview and that "something inside him snapped."
"Before the 58 minutes ended, William was weeping," Lacey writes in his newest book, Battle Of Brothers: William, Harry And The Inside Story Of A Family In Tumult (opens in new tab), adding that William's housemaster at Eton, Dr. Andrew Gailey, actually found the young prince in the midst of a mini-breakdown after he watched the show. "Gailey told Diana that he found her son slumped on the sofa, his eyes red with tears."
William is currently supporting an inquiry from the BBC (opens in new tab) into renewed allegations that Bashir manipulated Diana by forging documents to secure the interview.
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