A Close Friend Claims Princess Diana Exhibited "Strange Behavior" and Seemed "Frail" and "Susceptible" Before Agreeing to Infamous BBC Interview
"She was constantly changing her number."
Princess Diana's now-infamous 1995 interview with journalist Martin Bashir for BBC's Panorama is the subject of a new book. Dianarama by author Andy Webb explores the ways in which the former Princess of Wales was manipulated into sitting down for the candid interview. Now, one of Diana's close friends has detailed the princess's state of mind prior to her appearance on Panorama.
Speaking to People, Diana's close friend Rosa Monckton suggested that Webb's revelations made sense of what was an incredibly difficult time. "It does explain so much about her strange behavior," Monckton told the outlet. "She was constantly changing her number."
Monckton also suggested that she was worried about Diana prior to the Panorama interview, saying, "She was frail, and that made her susceptible to Bashir."
"She was frail, and that made her susceptible to Bashir."
Since Diana's frank interview with Bashir in 1995, an investigation has reportedly uncovered manipulation and tactics were used to convince the princess to take part. As a result, Diana's former friends and employees are certain that the royal's life would have been very different had she been interviewed by someone else.
Princess Diana's former private secretary, Patrick Jephson, also told the outlet, "It would have been a totally different kind of interview and one of which, I like to think, I would have been able to play a full part, with the advice and consultation that I could have brought to bear...It was my job."
Jephson worked for Diana between 1988 and 1996, resigning after trust was lost between them due to her Panorama interview. "It is chilling to re-run those events and feel that Diana was seeing me as the enemy within," he told People. "I had no understanding of what had changed."
According to Jephson, author Andy Webb has since uncovered that Bashir reportedly "told [Diana] I was betraying her." He elaborated, "It was horrifying...It was chilling, creepy and cruel. But at the same time, thanks to Andy, I now understand what went wrong and why. For 25 years, I never understood what went wrong, and whether it was my fault."
