Season 5 of Netflix's royal biographical drama The Crown debuted on Nov. 9, 2022, becoming the show's most controversial season to date. It chronicles the breakdown of Prince Charles' marriage to Princess Diana, who died in 1997, a year after their divorce was finalized.
One of the season's most controversial aspects was its portrayal of Diana's 1995 interview for the BBC series Panorama, a tell-all conversation about the princess' marriage and experiences with the royal family. Recent investigations, as well as perspectives from Diana's family, suggest the princess was coerced into the interview and the fallout from it played a role in her untimely death.
Diana Was Misled Into Participating In The Interview
The main controversy surrounding the 1995 interview of Princess Diana is the false pretense BBC journalist Martin Bashir used to gain access to the princess. Bashir first contacted her brother, Earl Charles Spencer, to alert his sister of concerns regarding her security being paid by various press outlets.
In 2021, Earl Spencer stated that Bashir "hooked me in." As he described what happened, "I was duped. ... He very cleverly came to me on my number one bugbear: the bad behaviour of the press" (via The Guardian). The Crown played into the idea of Bashir being deceitful, with his first appearance portraying him as an ambitious young journalist, frustrated with his TV work lacking big ratings. In the show, Bashir believes gaining access to the princess would be the scoop of the century.
Martin Bashir Created Forged Bank Statements To Secure The Interview
In 2020, the BBC started their formal investigation into the 1995 interview. The inquiry investigated false bank statements of Diana's Security, showing payments by press outlets in exchange for information, as used by Martin Bashir to show to Diana's brother, who alerted the princess (via ITV News).
On The Crown, Bashir is shown editing these bank statements on his computer before his meeting with Earl Spencer. Bashir had edited the name of Patrick Jephson, Diana's Head of Security, onto the documents, and told the Spencers that Jephson was likely bugging Diana's calls and selling recordings to Newspapers, as Charles had fallen victim to a leaked call in a previous episode.
The Interview Might Have Persuaded The Queen To Grant Diana And Charles A Divorce
Those who watched season 4 of The Crown will remember Charles and Diana's marriage was tumultuous from the start, with Charles refusing to end his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles. However, Queen Elizabeth argued with her son that the arranged marriage must continue for the sake of the crown's public image.
As shown in season 5, Charles and Diana were formally separated in 1992, but Queen Elizabeth's views on divorce as head of the Church of England meant they did not divorce. However, less than a year after the BBC interview, Diana and Charles were permitted to divorce. On the show, their divorce proceedings begin at the start of the episode following the airing of Diana's interview, shown as intersecting events.
The Interview Is Thought To Have Damaged Diana’s Mental Health
The inquiry into the interview took particular focus on Diana's mental health as a result of Bashir's relationship with the princess. Her son, Prince William, thought Bashir had played into Diana's mental health struggles to obtain the interview. In 2021, the prince said in a statement, "The BBC's failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her" (via People).
The Crown leans into William's thoughts on the interview. In Bashir's first appearance, he reads extensively about Diana's mental health struggles in newspapers. The manner he tells Diana that her security, then later her brother, are selling stories about her isolated the princess from her family and friends, and gaslit her into believing only he is a reliable source of information.
Princes William and Harry Believe The Aftermath From The Interview Led To Their Mother’s Death
When investigations on the interview began, Diana's sons, Harry and William, put out statements in regard to their support into the inquiry. Harry in particular, correlated the interview with his mother's death a year and a half later, stating that “our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed" (via Variety).
The Crown showcased Diana severing ties with her royal security, who would have likely played a role in preventing the 1997 car accident that ultimately took her life. One scene where Diana believes her car brakes have been tampered with, nearly causing her to crash, directly allude to these two events being connected.
Diana Did Not Regret Doing The Interview
The Crown depicts the interview as a major historical event, one that permanently damaged Diana's relationship with the royal family. The real princess, however, did not regret taking part in the interview and working with Martin Bashir. Diana claimed she thought her impending divorce "would mean a gagging clause" and that the time to conduct the interview was "then or never" (via The Times of London).
This is most evident on The Crown in the scene when Diana informs Queen Elizabeth that the interview will be airing soon. The manner that Diana informed her mother-in-law that the interview had be filmed and would be going ahead, along with her unwavering stance that the family had not listened to her concerns or mental health struggles, showed a steadfast Diana that believed the interview was her only platform.
The BBC Personally Apologized To Diana's Brother Earl Spencer And Diana's Former Security Team
In 2020, the BBC formally apologized directly to Princess Diana's former head of security, Patrick Jephson. The broadcasting corporation paid Jephson a "substantial sum", stating that the lead-up to the interview had caused "serious harm" to his reputation, along with the Spencer family (via USA Today). The BBC also apologized to Earl Spencer, although the Earl claims Martin Bashir never apologized to him (via BBC).
One particular scene in The Crown, where Diana has a secret meeting with Martin Bashir in a car, shows the princess wondering if the interview should go ahead. Bashir then starts claiming that her own brother has major connections with the press, MI5 and MI6, and that he is the only person who has not deceived her.
The Queen Lost Trust In The BBC Following The Interview
As shown in The Crown, Queen Elizabeth has had a long-standing relationship with the BBC, with the first season covering Elizabeth's first televised Christmas message on the national broadcaster. The BBC produced the queen's annual Christmas message every year until the 2000s, when the production was given to Sky, a broadcaster run by Rupert Murdoch (via BBC).
In season 5 of The Crown, Queen Elizabeth tells her grandson, Prince William, that she doesn't need to replace her old television, and that she's happy sticking to watching the BBC. After a confrontation with Diana where she learns of the interview, Elizabeth agrees to buy a new TV with hundreds of new channels.
A Formal Investigation Into The Interview Didn’t Occur Until 2020
Fans of The Crown may be surprised to learn that the investigation of Diana's interview did not occur until 25 years after it aired, 23 years after Diana's death. The BBC investigation was announced following a renewed interest in the interview, after many other British broadcasters had made documentaries on Diana's interview and her final years (via the New York Times).
Martin Bashir's depiction on The Crown presents him as a malicious and dishonest journalist. Perhaps if The Crown season 5 was made a few years prior, or had the investigation not been ordered, Bashir's role in the fallout of the interview would be more balanced, but the show squarely places the blame on Bashir.
Martin Bashir Was Found Guilty of Deceit
In 2021, it was ruled by the official inquiry into Diana's 1995 interview that Martin Bashir was guilty of employing "deceitful behaviour" to secure his interview with the Princess Diana. The BBC announced that they “unreservedly accepted” the ruling and that Bashir led "unacceptable failures" (via The Telegraph).
In The Crown, Martin Bashir is portrayed as a predatory figure who took advantage of Diana's mental health and cost several people their jobs due to forged documents that are depicted in the show to have been created by Bashir. This season was filmed after the 2021 ruling and likely played a huge role in Bashir's portrayal.
Source:gamerant.com