Earl Spencer again reiterated his call for criminal charges over the Princess Diana Panorama scandal today – as the BBC issued a grovelling apology over the ‘shocking’ way Martin Bashir obtained the notorious interview.
Corporation boss Tim Davie pledged to never show the programme again as a defamation case launched by former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke over smears made by the rogue reporter came to a close this morning.
The broadcaster agreed to pay her substantial damages in response to ‘fabricated’ allegations that she’d had an affair with the Prince of Wales while working as Charles’ personal assistant in 1995.
Mr Bashir is also said to have tricked Diana into believing the nanny had become pregnant by Charles by showing her a faked abortion ‘receipt’.
The princess’ brother, Earl Spencer, has long called for criminal charges to be brought, but Scotland Yard said it would not launch an investigation after assessing Lord Dyson’s report into the documentary.
Today, he launched a fresh call, as he said: ‘While I’m delighted to see that another innocent victim of this appalling scandal is being vindicated, it’s amazing to me that no criminal charges have been levelled against those responsible, yet.’
Miss Legge-Bourke’s solicitor Louise Prince had earlier told the court that the allegations caused ‘serious personal consequences for all concerned’.
Ms Prince said that Ms Legge-Bourke had not known the source of the allegations over the last 25 years, but that it was now likely that the ‘false and malicious allegations arose as a result and in the context of BBC Panorama’s efforts to procure an exclusive interview with Diana, Princess of Wales’.
The corporation’s director-general Mr Davie directed a public apology to Charles, William and Harry, as well as Miss Legge-Bourke herself ‘for the way in which Princess Diana was deceived and the subsequent impact on all their lives’.
He agreed with comments previously made by the Duke of Cambridge that the BBC ‘failed to ask the tough questions’ and admitted it was ‘a matter of great regret’ that bosses ‘did not get to the facts’.
Mr Davie pledged to never show the Panorama programme again, or provide the rights to other broadcasters, adding: ‘Had we done our job properly Princess Diana would have known the truth during her lifetime.
‘We let her, the royal family and our audiences down.’
However Mr Davie added that ‘there may be occasions in the future when it will be justified for the BBC to use short extracts’.
In a statement on the independent report last year, the Met Police announced it was ‘not appropriate to begin a criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful activity in connection with a documentary broadcast in 1995’.
‘Following the publication of Lord Dyson’s report in May, specialist detectives assessed its contents and looked carefully at the law – once again obtaining independent legal advice from Treasury Counsel as well as consulting the Crown Prosecution Service,’ the force said.
‘As a result, the MPS has not identified evidence of activity that constituted a criminal offence and will therefore be taking no further action.’
Miss Legge-Bourke said in a statement this morning that the distress caused to the royal family, as well as the smears against herself, were ‘a source of great upset to me’.
Alexandra Pettifer, better known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, a former nanny to the Duke of Cambridge, outside the High Court, central London, after the BBC agreed to pay her substantial damages over ‘false and malicious’ allegations about her used to obtain Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales
Miss Legge-Bourke (pictured with son Tom, left, leaving court this morning) said the distress caused to the royal family, as well as the smears against herself, were ‘a source of great upset to me’
The damages are the result of false claims made by the journalist, used as part of his attempts to secure his 1995 interview with Princess Diana
Earl Spencer again reiterated his call for criminal charges over the Princess Diana Panorama scandal today
William and Harry play on the River Gairn near Balmoral with their nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke in 1994
The ex-nanny of Prince William and Prince Harry (pictured in 2005) has received substantial damages from the BBC for being smeared by former rogue reporter Martin Bashir
Speaking after successfully settling her defamation claim, the former nanny said: ‘I am disappointed that it needed legal action for the BBC to recognise the serious harm I have been subjected to.
‘Sadly, I am one of many people whose lives have been scarred by the deceitful way in which the BBC Panorama was made and the BBC’s subsequent failure to properly investigate the making of the programme.
‘The distress caused to the royal family is a source of great upset to me.
‘I know first-hand how much they were affected at the time, and how the programme and the false narrative it created have haunted the family in the years since.
‘Especially because, still today, so much about the making of the programme is yet to be adequately explained.’
Louise Prince of Harbottle & Lewis, on behalf of Alexandra Pettifer, who was known at the time as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, told the court that the former nanny was ‘relieved that the BBC accepts that the allegations are completely untrue and without any foundation whatsoever.
‘She is also pleased that the BBC has agreed to apologise unreservedly… in order to assist her in repairing the substantial harm it has caused her.
‘The BBC has agreed to pay to her a substantial sum of damages… It has also agreed to pay her legal costs.’
The court was told that the Dyson Investigation, commissioned by the broadcaster, had ‘shed some light’ on how the interview had been secured.
The solicitor said that the ‘totally unfounded’ allegations ‘appeared to exploit some prior false speculation in the media’ about Ms Legge-Bourke and Charles.
‘After Diana, Princess of Wales, became aware of the allegations in late 1995, she became upset with the claimant without apparent justification,’ she added.
Ms Prince said Ms Legge-Bourke ‘holds the BBC liable for the serious impact the false and malicious allegations have had.
‘Had the BBC not fallen short, the claimant and her family could have been spared 25 years of lies, suspicion and upset.’
Jonathan Scherbel-Ball of lawyers 5RB on behalf of the BBC told the court: ‘The BBC accepts that the allegations were wholly baseless, should never have been made, and that the BBC did not, at the time, adequately investigate serious concerns over the circumstances in which the BBC secured the Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales…
‘The BBC is extremely sorry for the serious and prolonged harm caused to (Mrs Pettifer) and the historical investigative shortcoming.
‘It is pleased that the parties have been able to resolve these issues amicably by joining in this statement in open court and by the BBC paying her substantial compensation and legal costs.’
Former BBC Panorama producer Mark Killick said: ‘It’s good news that this matter has finally been resolved, but the length of time it has taken for the BBC to apologise and pay damages is yet more proof that the BBC is dragging its feet when confronting the past.
‘The BBC remains extremely reluctant to confront any issue that was not specifically covered by Lord Dyson, even if the truth is widely known, and its attitude is hardly likely to give confidence to whistle-blowers who today may want to speak truth to power.
‘Tim Davie, the current BBC director-general, deserves credit for the steps he has taken, but whether the BBC has done enough to prevent a scandal like this from happening again remains to be seen.’
Tiggy Legge-Bourke with William, Harry and Charles at Zurich Airport in February 1994
Prince William has previously vowed to continue his battle to uncover ‘the truth’ about how his mother came to be duped by Martin Bashir (pictured)
William criticised the BBC in 2020 for its failings around his mother’s Panorama interview which exacerbated her ‘fear, paranoia and isolation’
BBC boss Tim Davie today issued a grovelling apology as the broadcaster agreed to pay damages
As well as false smears that she had an affair with Charles, it was also alleged that the Princess of Wales was tricked into granting her Panorama interview after Mr Bashir showed her a faked abortion ‘receipt’ for the nanny.
Diana was said to have become convinced that the nanny had become pregnant by Charles and allegedly confronted her at a Christmas party, where she acidly remarked: ‘So sorry to hear about the baby.’
It was previously reported that Miss Legge-Bourke could be set for a financial settlement in line with that received by graphic artist Matt Wiessler.
Insiders believe that such was the scale of Bashir’s slurs about Miss Legge-Bourke Mr Wiessler, who was blacklisted after he raised concerns about Bashir’s conduct on the 1995 interview, is thought to have received £500,000 as part of his agreement with the BBC.
The artist had been asked by Bashir to mock up false bank statements.
Elsewhere, earlier this year the BBC paid Diana’s former private secretary Patrick Jephson £100,000.
Commander Jephson donated in full his financial settlement from the BBC to charity, with money going to a children’s hospice.
Bashir was said to have used fake bank statements which appeared to show he had received payments from the intelligence services.
The BBC also reportedly paid more than £1.5million to a charity selected by the Royal Family after the fallout from a report by Lord Dyson into the scandal.
BBC director-general Tim Davie said: ‘Following publication of the Dyson Report last year we have been working with those who suffered as a result of the deceitful tactics used by the BBC in pursuit of its interview with Diana, Princess of Wales for the Panorama programme in 1995, including the matters that were mentioned in court today in respect of Miss Tiggy Legge-Bourke, now Mrs Alexandra Pettifer.
‘The BBC has agreed to pay substantial damages to Mrs Pettifer and I would like to take this opportunity to apologise publicly to her, to the Prince of Wales, and to the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex, for the way in which Princess Diana was deceived and the subsequent impact on all their lives.
‘It is a matter of great regret that the BBC did not get to the facts in the immediate aftermath of the programme when there were warning signs that the interview might have been obtained improperly. Instead, as the Duke of Cambridge himself put it, the BBC failed to ask the tough questions.
‘Had we done our job properly Princess Diana would have known the truth during her lifetime. We let her, the royal family and our audiences down.
‘Now we know about the shocking way that the interview was obtained I have decided that the BBC will never show the programme again; nor will we licence it in whole or part to other broadcasters.
‘It does of course remain part of the historical record and there may be occasions in the future when it will be justified for the BBC to use short extracts for journalistic purposes, but these will be few and far between and will need to be agreed at executive committee level and set in the full context of what we now know about the way the interview was obtained. I would urge others to exercise similar restraint.’
In a blistering attack last year, Prince William damned the corporation for deceiving his mother, ruining her life and helping to hasten her divorce.
He said the BBC’s failures had contributed to Diana’s ‘fear, paranoia and isolation’ in her final years, and that the infamous 1995 Panorama interview made a ‘major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse’.
He said: ‘It is my firm view that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others.
‘This settled narrative now needs to be addressed by the BBC and anyone else who has written or intends to write about these events.
‘In an era of fake news, public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important.
‘These failings, identified by investigative journalists, not only let my mother down, and my family down; they let the public down too.’