DI NOTES
Never-seen-before Princess Diana letter to Earl Spencer says ‘it makes complete sense’ after revealing Bashir spy claims
PRINCESS Diana told her brother that Martin Bashir's spy claims "make complete sense" in a never-seen-before letter.
Princess Diana penned the heartbreaking note to Earl Spencer after he informed her of Bashir’s elaborate allegations that she was being spied on.
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In her private note she tells her brother, who she addresses as "Carlos" that "they" underestimate the "Spencer strength."
Martin Bashir had told the Princess and Earl Spencer that she was being followed - as well as having her telephone lines bugged - in a bid to gain her "trust."
Princess Diana's penned letter reads: "Darling Carlos, I so appreciated the contents of our telephone call this morning.
"It all makes complete sense to what is going on around me at this present time.
"'They' underestimate the Spencer strength! Lots of love from Duch x."
Speaking to the BBC for a Panorama special tonight, Earl Spencer said: "The irony is I met Martin Bashir on the 31st August 1995 because exactly two years later she died and I do draw a line between the two events.
"It's quite clear from the introduction I sat in on the 19th September 1995 everybody was going to be made untrustworthy and I think Diana did lose trust in really key people."
What the report found:
- Bashir fabricated information to 'deceive' Princess Diana into giving 1995 interview
- He commissioned fake bank statements and showed them to Earl Spencer
- Lord Dyson rules Bashir 'acted inappropriately' in serious breach of code
- BBC has admitted 'unacceptable failures' and apologised for 'clear failings'
- The broadcaster 'fell short of what audiences expect' and failed with its 1996 inquiry
- Bashir apologised saying the faking of bank statements was a “an action I deeply regret” but said it had "no bearing" on Diana's decision to do the interview
- Lord Birt, director-general of the BBC at the time, says the BBC "harboured a rogue report" who "fabricated an elaborate, detailed but wholly false account"
- The corporation will be stripped of awards for 1995 Panorama interview
Earl Spencer told Panorama tonight that Bashir’s strategy was to make “everyone untrustworthy” as a way of getting close to him and his sister.
He said: “Bashir was very good at amplifying people's anxieties.
“He was very good at making you feel as though he was your friend who was going to save you in a in a difficult and dangerous world.”
This comes after Prince Harry and Prince William set their differences aside to come together and help with the probe into Princess Diana's BBC interview.
William and Harry helped identify their late mother's handwriting in a second letter she wrote - in which she gave her consent for the interview.
The note - written on Kensington Palace stationery - said: "Martin Bashir did not show me any documents, nor give me any information that I was not previously aware of.
"I consented to the interview on Panorama without any undue pressure and have no regrets concerning the matter."
Lord Dyson said in his report he is "satisfied" the note was genuine despite concerns it was a "forgery".
The brothers both welcomed the probe into the Panorama interview after suspicions were raised over how Bashir landed the scoop.
In a break with precedent, William previously said in a statement: “The independent investigation is a step in the right direction.
"It should help establish the truth behind the actions that led to the Panorama interview and subsequent decisions taken by those in the BBC at the time.”
And in the shocking new interview, Earl Spencer has blamed Martin Bashir over his sister's tragic death.
Earl Spencer says his "vulnerable" sister was left with no protection when she was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
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Just two years before, Diana was tricked into sitting down for her explosive interview with "deceitful" Bashir.
Earl Spencer suggested his sister lost faith in those around her after being duped into taking part the BBC scoop after her marriage collapsed.
Today's interview follows Lord Dyson's damning report which found "rogue reporter" Bashir faked bank statements and used "deceitful behaviour" to trick Diana into giving the infamous interview.
And it revealed the BBC "without justification" had "covered up" Bashir's sensational lies.
Earl Spencer told previously how Bashir used the forged bank statements to convince Diana to do the interview.
He said the papers wrongly showed two senior courtiers were being paid by the security services for information on his sister.
The false documents also gave the impression associates of the royal family were selling stories to newspapers.
DI NOTES
Diana's brother said if he hadn't seen the bank statements he would not have made the introduction and the scoop wouldn't have happened.
The tragic princess sat down with the then-unknown journalist in 1995, famously revealing: "There were three of us in this marriage".
She also admitted to her infidelity with Army captain James Hewitt, and questioned Charles’s suitability as king.
Former BBC director-general Lord Hall investigated Mr Bashir in 1996 after questions were first raised over how he secured the bombshell interview with Diana.
He said today he accepts the original inquiry into the interview "fell well short of what was required" and he was "wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt".
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Responding to the report, Bashir said today: "This is the second time that I have willingly fully co-operated with an investigation into events more than 25 years ago.
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"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."
Martin Bashir linked to Princess Diana's death, says Earl Spencer
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