It's been 30 years since Princess Diana's BBC Panorama interview, and although the shockwaves from her bombshell confessions are still being felt today, there's also a sentiment among Diana's friends and family that it led to her tragic death. One of those is spiritual healer Simone Simmons, who opened up about the royal in the new book, Dianarama.
Filmmaker and writer Andy Webb has been investigating the BBC's coverup surrounding its 1995 interview for decades. In his book—released November 20 in the U.K. and coming November 25 in the United States—he speaks with those closest to the late princess, revealing what they truly think about the famous Martin Bashir interview and how it impacted Diana's life.
During her sitdown with Bashir, Diana admitted to cheating on Prince Charles and delivered her famous line about Camilla Parker Bowles, stating, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded." In the aftermath of the TV broadcast, Queen Elizabeth insisted that Prince Charles and Princess Diana move forward with a divorce.
Princess Diana is pictured with Martin Bashir during her Panorama interview.
The inherent problem with the Panorama interview is that Bashir used deceitful tactics to gain Diana's trust—and as Webb notes in his book, she had turned down many other top-tier journalists for tell-all interviews. Because Bashir lied and presented fake documents trying to prove she was being spied on by the Royal Family, Diana agreed to do the interview with the unknown journalist.
In Dianarama, Simmons—a longtime confidant of the princess—states that what Bashir did to her friend was "unforgivable." In fact, she draws a straight line from Panorama to Diana's 1997 death in Paris.
"Without Martin Bashir she would never have been in Paris with Dodi Fayed and she would still be alive," Simmons told Webb. "Therefore I hold Martin Bashir fully responsible for Diana's death. Not partly responsible. Fully responsible." The spiritual advisor adds, "If it wasn't for him, she would still be alive."
Another friend of Diana's, Rosa Monckton, made similar comments in 2020 in a piece she wrote for the Daily Mail. Claiming that Panorama "probably changed the course of history," she added that if Diana had retained her royal title, "she would have still been in the embrace of the Royal Family when in Paris on August 31, 1997."
Princess Diana is seen on November 20, 1995, the night of her Panorama broadcast.
Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, also spoke to Webb extensively for Dianarama, and although he doesn't go as far as Simmons, he agrees that the "consequences" of her interview turned deadly.
Earl Spencer points to the fact that Bashir convinced Diana she had been betrayed by her trusted private secretary, Patrick Jephson, as a key point in how her life could've turned out differently. Spencer says that if she'd known that Bashir had deceived her, she could've "restored her confidence in the right people around her," especially Jephson.
"I think she'd have had a much more secure team around her as she progressed into that phase of her life," the earl adds. Because Bashir destroyed the late royal's trust and impression of those were trying to protect her, Earl Spencer says he does think the Panorama interview left "her exposed when she needed proper safety."
"I think it left her totally exposed, with Al Fayed's Mickey Mouse outfit of protection and drivers in place instead. So I think, unfortunately, in terms of consequences, they were lethal."
