Princess Diana broke the glass ceiling of silence in the realm of royalty, where words are carefully chosen and secrets are deftly hidden. In her groundbreaking 1995 BBC interview, which aired on November 20, 1995, she boldly bared her soul, revealing the hidden challenges of the royal life she led and her journey as a woman.
From the comfort of her sitting room at Kensington Palace, the explosive interview she gave was notable for the candor with which she spoke about personal details such as her battle with depression and, most shockingly, her marriage. The first wife of King Charles (then Prince of Wales), claimed that she could not envision herself as “queen” of the UK because the “establishment” she married into did not want her to do so.
Uncovering the Untold: Princess Diana’s 1995 BBC Interview
In a 1995 BBC interview, Princess Diana opened up to a global audience about her marriage to the then Prince of Wales and the reasons behind their eventual divorce. “Do you think you will ever be queen?” Journalist Martin Bashir questioned about her uncertain future, to which she responded with a smile and a small laugh:
“No, I don’t, no.”
When asked why she thought she would never wear the crown, the late Princess of Wales responded as follows:
“I’d like to be a queen of people’s hearts, in people’s hearts, but I don’t see myself being queen of this country. I don’t think many people will want me to be queen, and when I say ‘people,’ I mean the establishment I married into because they have decided I’m a non-starter.”
The interview, in which she discussed her marital problems and battles with mental illness, shocked the royal family and inspired sympathy in the public. She believed that her perspective was unique since she led from the “heart” rather than the head and did not follow any “rules”. Princess Diana added,
“I do things differently because I don’t go by a rule book because I lead from the heart, not the head, and albeit that’s got me into trouble in my work, I understand that..”
With each sentence, she revealed long-kept secrets that she may have kept to herself, including the difficulties in her marriage and the royal establishment’s unwillingness to acknowledge her as queen.
Princess Diana’s Reaction to King Charles Taking the Throne
Remarkably, Princess Diana expressed her opinion on King Charles ascending to the throne as well, saying that she was not sure if he “could adapt” to the role. She continued by stating that the current King of the United Kingdom would also find this ruling position to be “suffocating”, which could “bring enormous limitations to him”. She continued:
“There was always conflict on that subject with him when we discussed it, and I understood that conflict, because it’s a very demanding role to be Prince of Wales, but it’s an equally demanding role to be King. And being Prince of Wales produces more freedom now, and being King would be a little more suffocating. And because I know the character, I would think that the top job, as I call it, would bring enormous limitations to him, and I don’t know whether he could adapt to that.”
In 2020, Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, expressed regret to the Princess’ brother, Lord Spencer, following the revelation that Martin Bashir had secured the interview by deceiving with false bank statements (via The Sunday Times). Lord Dyson, a former Supreme Court justice, carried out an independent investigation into the matter.
Bashir was found guilty of lying and violating BBC editorial standards in order to secure the interview. According to Deadline, Davie declared a year following the inquiry’s conclusion that the BBC would never rerun the interview or grant a license to any other broadcaster.
In 2021, Princess Diana’s son, Prince William, expressed his disapproval of the interviewing process to Vanity Fair:
“The BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her.”
Princess Diana lost her life in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997. Even decades after it was broadcast, people still remember the 54-minute interview. The late mother of Princes William and Harry irrevocably altered the story of the monarchy with her unfiltered interview, touching millions of people’s hearts.
