Alexandra Pettifer had launched prosecution against the public audiovisual group, contesting the “manufactured” rumors which attracted an adventure with Prince Charles.
Le Monde with AFP
The BBC agreed, Thursday, July 21, to pay “important” damages to the old nurse of the princes Willam and Harry, who had been slandered by one of his former journalists, Martin Bashir, in The aim of winning an event interview of Princess Diana in 1995.
This agreement constitutes a new episode of the saga around the deceptive methods used to organize the interview, seen by 23 million viewers, in which the Princess of Wales had admitted to having an extramarital relationship. Before this interview, Mr. Bashir would have led Diana to believe that the nurse had fallen pregnant with Prince Charles, when the latter was his personal assistant, showing him a false “proof” of abortion.
Alexandra Pettifer, better known as “Tiggy Legge-Bourke” (a nickname and his young girl’s name), had launched prosecution against the public audiovisual group, contesting the allegations “manufactured” by Mr. Bashir. In front of the High Court of London, her lawyer, Louise Prince, said that her client was “relieved that the BBC recognizes that the allegations were completely false and without any foundation”.
“public excuses” BBC
“The BBC will pay important damages to M me pettifer and would like to take the opportunity to apologize, to the Prince of Wales and the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex For the way in which Princess Diana was abused and the impact on their lively lives, “the group’s general manager Tim Davie said in a statement. “If we had done our job properly, Princess Diana”, died in 1997 in a car accident in Paris, “would have known the truth,” he continued.
In an independent report published in May 2021, the former Supreme Court judge John Dyson had highlighted the misleading methods of journalist Martin Bashir to win the interview and stamped the BBC for his management of the case.
False account statements had also been shown to Diana’s brother Charles Spencer, to make him believe that the security services paid two people at the court to spy on his sister. According to Mr. Spencer, this is what pushed him to present the journalist to Lady Di.
After this interview, Martin Bashir continued his career in the United States before returning to the United Kingdom to work for the BBC, until his resignation, in May 2022. In this case, the BBC has already compensated the Former private secretary of Lady Di and concluded a financial agreement with a graphic designer who had been dismissed for denouncing the misleading methods of Martin Bashir.