He had been living in South Africa when Diana died, and he-along with many others-had felt that his sister had been hung out to dry with the media in the wake of her separation and eventual divorce from Prince Charles, who along with then-girlfriend Camilla Parker-Bowles had been painted as villains in the Princess of Wales' fall from royal grace. The Spencer side did, after all, promise to look after William and Harry in their mother's stead, to do their best to balance out the inevitable demands of royal life with the normalcy that Diana wished for them-and the brothers never forgot it.Įarl Spencer, the youngest of the five Spencer children (a brother, John, died in infancy the year before Diana was born), gave one of the most talked-about speeches in contemporary British history in eulogizing his sister in 1997-an address raw in its candor, purposely worded and yet also hopeful in its wish that Diana's legacy would continue to burn bright, particularly through William and Harry. The Telegraph has reported that their aunt Lady Jane Fellowes, one of Princess Diana's two sisters, was among the first people to visit Harry and Meghan Markle following the birth of their son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, on May 6-meaning, she met Master Archie (as the title-less little chap will be known for now) before William and Kate Middleton were able to get there.īut the expediency with which Lady Jane got there isn't particularly surprising. With so many royals to keep track of, it can be easy to forget that that's only one half of William and Harry's family. Plus, the queen has four grown kids, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, as well as a sprawling tree of cousins and their progeny. Their paternal grandmother is Queen Elizabeth II, so when major milestones occur, it's the monarch's rules-the official and the tacitly understood-that have been set in place during her historic reign that tend to monopolize the conversation. It revealed that Matt Wiessler, the graphic designer who mocked up the bank statements under direction from Bashir, left the corporation soon after the incident.When it comes to Prince William and Prince Harry, understandably it's their dad's side of the family that gets most of the headlines. Interest in the circumstances of the interview – which took place 25 years ago this week – has been reawakened by a Channel 4 documentary into how Bashir got the story. Spencer has alleged that in addition to the fake bank documents, Bashir claimed to have “evidence of senior members of the royal family saying or doing appalling things – wishing members of my family dead fathering a child that had to be aborted”. He concluded that the reporter “wasn’t thinking” when he asked the graphic designer to produce the fake bank statements.Īccording to the documents, Hall concluded: “I believe he is, even with his lapse, honest and an honourable man. Internal BBC documents released under the Freedom of Information Act and seen by the Daily Mail reveal new information about how Lord Hall cleared Bashir. The situation has been complicated by Bashir’s health he is severely ill with complications from Covid-19.
The BBC has said it is willing to consider any new information provided by Spencer, but it is understood the corporation has yet to receive additional evidence. “The BBC has shown itself incapable of honestly facing up to the ugly truth of this matter,” he said.
Spencer said he was never consulted regarding the initial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the interview. The reporter had ordered a BBC graphic designer to mock up fake bank statements that gave the impression people close to the Spencer family were selling stories to newspapers. Bashir was cleared of wrongdoing after a 1996 internal investigation led by the then head of news, Tony Hall, who later became the the corporation’s director general.
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