<p id=”par-1_37″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/princess-diana/”>Princess Diana</a> wasn’t exactly surprised talk of divorce came from the British royal family following her famous <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/princess-diana-answers-very-beige-asked-1-royal-bbc-panorama-interview.html/”><em>Panorama </em>interview</a>. According to a journalist and friend of the late royal’s, Diana “knew” the interview would result in divorce. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-queen-elizabeth-urged-diana-to-divorce-king-charles-after-the-1995-interview”>Queen Elizabeth urged Diana to divorce King Charles after the 1995 interview</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image aligncenter size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/King-Charles-and-Princess-Diana-who-expected-the-royal-family-would-suggest-divorce-after-her-Panorama-interview.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”King Charles and Princess Diana, who expected the royal family would suggest divorce after her ‘Panorama’ interview, stand next to each other. ” class=”wp-image-3766961″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>King Charles and Princess Diana | Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_72″>Diana spoke candidly to journalist Martin Bashir about her experience in the royal family. In the November 1995 interview, she famously touched on her then-husband’s affair with the now-<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/camilla-parker-bowles/”>Queen Camilla</a>, saying there were “three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” Diana also talked about her own <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/princess-dianas-ex-lover-james-hewitt-says-person-made-him-worlds-most-hated-man.html/”>affairs</a>. Other topics included suicide, eating disorders, and divorce (she didn’t want to split up with King Charles) among others. </p>
<p id=”par-3_48″>What came after—besides many shocking headlines—were letters to Diana and King Charles from Queen Elizabeth II (via <a href=”https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/princess-diana-initially-didnt-want-190000311.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Town & Country</a>). In a December 1995 statement, Buckingham Palace said the queen had written to her son and daughter-in-law. Furthermore, she’d shared her “view” that an “early divorce is desirable.” </p>
<p id=”par-4_35″>In 2022 an investigation revealed Bashir used deceptive methods to secure the interview. Both <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/prince-william/”>Prince William</a> and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/prince-harry/”>Prince Harry</a> spoke out about the findings. The former calling for the interview <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/princess-diana-biographer-disagrees-prince-william-bombshell-bbc-interview-lock-away-vault-wrong.html/”>never to be aired again</a>. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-diana-knew-the-royal-family-would-want-her-to-get-a-divorce-after-the-interview-nbsp”>Diana ‘knew’ the royal family would want her to get a divorce after the interview </h2>
<p id=”par-5_28″>Speaking in a documentary, journalist Richard Kay, who was also a friend of Diana’s, suggested she knew the royal family would sever ties because of the <em>Panorama</em> interview. </p>
<p id=”par-6_64″>“We all know Diana was tricked or fed things. But I learned something quite interesting recently, and it came from [Diana’s ex-boyfriend] <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/princess-diana-once-asked-muslim-photographer-about-interfaith-marriage-dating-love-life-hasnat-khan.html/”>Hasnat Khan</a>. And he told me that she knew what she was doing,” Kay said (via <a href=”https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/princess-diana-ex-comments-hasnat-khan-b1872188.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>The Independent</a>). “She said, ‘I know how the royals react to this. I know what they’ll do,’ and she said, ‘They’ll now want me to divorce.’”</p>
<p id=”par-7_58″>That’s exactly what happened. Diana and the now-king had been separated since 1992 but it wasn’t until after the <em>Panorama </em>interview that their divorce proceedings began in earnest. The two officially divorced in August 1996, almost a year exactly before Diana’s shocking death at the age of 36. See <em><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/the-crown/”>The Crown</a></em>‘s portrayal of Diana and Charles’s divorce below. </p>
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<iframe title=”Charles and Diana Announce Their Divorce | The Crown (Dominic West, Elizabeth Debicki)” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/pH25OLZxu1M?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-princess-diana-was-pleased-with-her-panorama-interview”>Princess Diana was ‘pleased’ with her ‘Panorama’ interview</h2>
<p id=”par-8_31″>Royal author Tina Brown wrote in her 2022 book, <em>The Palace Papers</em>, that Diana was “pleased” with the interview and “didn’t have a bad word to say” about Bashir (via<a href=”https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/princess-diana-no-regrets-bbc-26646356″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”> Mirror</a>). </p>
<p id=”par-9_23″>Friends of the late royal’s “made clear that she had said exactly what she wanted to say on camera,” according to Brown. </p>
<p id=”par-10_53″>As for Bashir’s tactics, she dismissed the idea of a “foolish” Diana. “I don’t subscribe to the now pervasive narrative that Diana was a vulnerable victim of a media manipulation, a mere marionette tossed about by malign forces beyond her control,” the author added in reference to Bashir’s lies to land the interview. </p>
<p id=”par-11_36″>“While strongly sympathetic to her sons’ pain, I find it offensive to present the canny, resourceful Diana as a woman of no agency, as either a foolish, duped child or the hapless casualty of malevolent muckrakers.”</p>
<p id=”par-12_37″><em><strong>How to get help:</strong> In the U.S., call the <u><a href=”https://988lifeline.org/”>988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline</a></u> by dialing 988 or 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to speak with a trained crisis counselor at the free <u><a href=”https://www.crisistextline.org/”>Crisis Text Line</a></u>.</em></p>
<p id=”par-13_16″><em><strong>How to get help:</strong> In the U.S. call the <u><a href=”https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline”>National Eating Disorders Association</a></u> helpline at 1-800-931-2237.</em></p>