New book reveals deception behind Princess Diana BBC Tell-All

Dyson also concluded that the BBC’s first internal investigation in 1996 into how Bashir had obtained his interview had been “woefully ineffective” and that the corporation had “covered up” any wrongdoing.

Webb’s book, Dianaramaexpands the picture further, based on interviews, internal BBC papers and testimonies from figures directly involved, some of which he claims have only recently emerged.

Webb describes the saga as “a tale more lurid and imaginative than anything that happened at the Tudor court of Henry VIII.”

One of the key episodes he tells is Bashir’s initial approach to Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, providing forged bank statements and presenting him with alarming claims of surveillance.

Spencer told Webb, “He tried to make me paranoid.”

The book alleges that Bashir’s deceptions were extraordinary, including false claims that Prince Edward had AIDS, that Prince Harry and Prince William’s nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke had become pregnant by Prince Charles and aborted their child, and that William, then 13, wore a watch that was used to record conversations.

These claims, Webb writes, helped convince Diana that she needed to act quickly, and she agreed to film the interview under unusual secrecy at Kensington Palace on November 5, 1995.