Princess Diana engaged in a brutal war of words with Prince Charles after the breakdown of their marriage in the 1990s. The Princess of Wales even agreed to an unprecedented interview with BBC Panorama in which she admitted to having cheated on her husband as he had on her. Diana’s former lover Hasnat Khan claimed the royal was “manipulated” into speaking to the corporation but expert Ilaria Grillini dismissed his comments.
Speaking to RAI programme Unomattina, Ms Grillini said: “He was Diana’s great love, a very nice person by the way.
“Perhaps the only one who has never given interviews, the only person who has been in contact with Diana and has not ‘sold her’.
“And now he’s come up with the BBC interview story, saying she was duped. Now there is an investigation underway so we will have to see.
“However Diana at that time would have done anything to damage the Royal Family.”
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The bombshell interview resulted in the Queen putting her foot down and ordering Diana and Charles to divorce after years of public skirmishes.
Ms Grillini added: “She was of age, she was 35, she gave an interview to the BBC. She had to pay for the consequences.”
The BBC last year announced an inquiry will be carried out on how reporter Martin Bashier secured his interview with Princess Diana after her brother, Charles Spencer, claimed she was convinced to participate by a series of faked documents.
Prince William “tentatively welcomed the investigation”, saying in a statement in November: “The independent investigation is a step in the right direction.
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“He slipped out of the room to phone her and a while later he came back in, he said she had suggested a date which just happened to be Prince Charles’ birthday.”
Royal expert Richard Kay told ITV: “It may be that Bashir and co said, ‘Well, we want to announce it on the 14th November and she would have said, ‘Oh, that’s my husband’s birthday, why not?'”
In the end, the interview was broadcast on November 20, 1995 – six days after Prince Charles’s 47th birthday.
Buckingham Palace announced a month later the Queen had written to both Charles and Diana to advise them to divorce.
The proceedings were finalised in August 1996, a year before the Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris.
