Diana wasn’t ‘bullied’ into giving Martin Bashir interview

British journalist David Dimbleby recently defended the BBC over Princess Diana’s infamous interview with Martin Bashir by insisting that the late princess wasn’t coerced to give the interview.

The veteran journalist said that despite Bashir’s notorious practice, the Princess of Wales got the chance to share her side of the story freely.

Dimbleby has been helming Days That Shook the BBC – a documentary about the biggest controversies involving the broadcaster.

“Showing the Diana interview is the one argument that I lost,” he said. “My view – and I put it forcefully and regularly – was that I didn’t want to show the interview as such, although I believe it has historical validity, but that it underlined the BBC’s independence.”

“I understand Prince William’s objections and the problem with how the interview was achieved, but I don’t believe Diana was coerced into giving it.

“You can see it in the interview. She clearly wants to say her part, she was not bullied or hectored into it. The clips show that what she was saying was genuinely meant.

“But the BBC had just reached a legal settlement with the former royal nanny Alexandra Pettifer [Tiggy Legge-Bourke] and [current director-general] Tim Davie pledged the BBC would not show it again except for journalistic reasons,” he continued.

“Our request came too soon,” he added to the Radio Times.