Towards the end of Princess Diana’s marriage, circa 1991, Diana instinctively understood that she needed to get “her side” out there by any means necessary, partly because she couldn’t keep it all bottled up and partly because she couldn’t stand the status quo of her sh-tty marriage to a serial philanderer. She arranged to work with Andrew Morton on the book which would become Diana: Her True Story. Because Morton and Diana couldn’t be seen together, and he certainly couldn’t openly interview her, they worked out a system where he would write down questions and she would record herself answering the questions and telling her story. The tapes were then transferred to Morton via one of Diana’s close friends. Those tapes have been around for a long time, and they’ve been used in many documentaries over the years. I don’t know if Morton “owns” the tapes per se, but he’s certainly made the tapes available to certain producers and documentary filmmakers. Well, they’re dusting off the tapes again.
Love Monday TV and 53 Degrees Global are producing “Diana: The Unheard Truth” (working title), a three-part docuseries centered on five hours of audio recordings of Diana, Princess of Wales that have never been made public, with the series set to launch on Aug. 31, 2027 – the 30th anniversary of her death.
The recordings were captured in 1991 by Dr. James Colthurst, a close friend of the Princess. The tapes were covertly removed from Kensington Palace and delivered to author Andrew Morton, whose resulting biography “Diana Her True Story” altered the course of royal history. In the three decades since Diana died, fewer than one hour of the material had been heard publicly.
Love Monday TV has secured full access to the archive in partnership with Morton and Colthurst, who also appear in the series alongside publisher Michael O’Mara. All three revisit the circumstances under which the Morton book was produced, including the risks Diana took and the intense scrutiny all three endured in the process.
The tapes cover Diana’s account of life within the royal family, her predictions about the futures of Charles and Camilla, and her own ambitions for a life independent of the Crown. Further contributors include prep schoolmate Delissa Needham, in her first on-camera appearance; hairdresser Sam McKnight; astrologer Penny Thornton; dancer Wayne Sleep; former bodyguard Ken Wharfe; royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter; photographer Kent Gavin; and Daily Mail journalist Richard Kay.
They’re playing fast and loose, but they do note that “fewer than one hour of the material had been heard publicly.” As I said, the existence of the tapes has been known for decades and clips have been used in many other programs. But it’s interesting that Morton and James Colthurst have apparently agreed to open up their full archives so that Diana’s own words and her voice can be preserved in some way. I’m interested to see what Diana said in 1991 about Camilla in particular, and if Diana spoke about any of Charles’ other mistresses at the time. Diana was well aware of many of them.
Next year is the thirtieth anniversary of Diana’s death, and I imagine there will be many, many documentaries and special programs made. There’s been a rumor for years that Netflix wants to make a Diana documentary with Prince Harry’s help, possibly even with Harry producing. I don’t know if that would happen, but as I said, it’s a rumor going around.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
