It’s so weird that this story popped up yesterday, because over the weekend, I was thinking about Tiggy Legge-Bourke and I read her absolutely bonkers Wiki page. Tiggy Legge-Bourke was the nanny hired by Prince Charles when he and Princess Diana separated. Diana hated Tiggy immediately, and the feeling was apparently pretty mutual. Diana thought Tiggy was making a play for Charles, and that Tiggy was aiming to “steal” her sons as well. Diana believed that there were many people in Buckingham Palace who had a very particular plot: to get Charles to marry Tiggy once he divorced Diana, thus cutting out both Diana and Camilla. Tina Brown claimed that there actually were widespread discussions about that, and that Tiggy was one of the few issues on which Diana and Camilla were united. There was also the incident when Diana said something snide to Tiggy about Tiggy’s rumored abortion and Tiggy ended up suing her. I’m telling you, the ‘90s were shambolic.
Anyway, there’s been an ongoing investigation into how Martin Bashir scored the interview with Princess Diana. I find the investigation kind of problematic, because it’s just a group of men taking away a dead woman’s agency. Diana WANTED to give an interview. Now, did Bashir still do and say some shady sh-t to score the interview? Yes. He did. Apparently, Bashir faked some “evidence” of Charles plotting to marry Tiggy.
Princess Diana was allegedly tricked into granting her Panorama interview after Martin Bashir showed her a faked abortion ‘receipt’ for royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke. The shocking claim is among bombshell evidence given to the inquiry into the BBC and Bashir.
Retired Supreme Court judge Lord Dyson has interviewed 17 witnesses as he probes allegations the broadcaster covered up a trail of deceit by the journalist. Bashir is accused of peddling lies and vile smears to the vulnerable princess to land his explosive 1995 scoop, in which she famously proclaimed ‘there were three of us in this marriage’.
Diana was said to have been obsessed with the bizarre idea that Charles wanted her murdered in order to marry the nanny. The princess was so convinced Miss Legge-Bourke had become pregnant by Charles that an investigation was launched by Sir Robert Fellowes, the Queen’s private secretary and Diana’s brother-in-law, after the princess allegedly approached Tiggy at a party and hissed: ‘So sorry to hear about the baby.’
Television sources have told the Daily Mail that Lord Dyson, commissioned by the BBC in November, has started writing his report, which could be damning of former corporation chiefs. Among the startling evidence given to his investigation, it is understood he has been told:
Diana was enraged by ‘proof’ – which was untrue and preposterous – that Miss Legge-Bourke had had an abortion;
The princess had pulled out of agreeing to the historic interview, before Bashir fired her up with more lies just a week before filming;
Diana was ‘like a bull given an electric shock’, confiding in her lawyer days after meeting the BBC reporter that ‘reliable sources’ had warned of an assassination plot against her;
She said the ‘sources’ had also told her the Queen would abdicate and Prince Charles would take the throne;
A handwritten letter from Diana to the BBC exonerating Bashir was allegedly dictated ‘word for word’ by the reporter himself.
The sources said yesterday that Lord Dyson was ‘determined’ to stick to the six-month estimate for his inquiry, and has been interviewing witnesses via Zoom video meetings.
It would actually make a lot of sense if Diana said “So sorry to hear about the baby” to Tiggy if Diana based that comment on rumors and falsified documents by Bashir. There was always a question mark about how Diana came up with that particular rumor. But really, they make it sound like Bashir was just telling a gullible, desperate woman crazy stories when it actually sounds like Bashir told her actual rumors which were going around at the time. I mean, it was no secret that many in the palace thought Tiggy would be a better second wife to Charles than Camilla. It was no secret that both Camilla and Diana loathed Tiggy completely, and both women believed that Charles was having an affair with Tiggy. And Diana made repeated references for several years that she felt like there was a plot to kill her via a car crash. It wasn’t just some random thing that Bashir told her.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
This 25 year old investigation is being done at the behest of the right wing tabloids and the Palace to erode even further support for the BBC and to support the new Palace narrative, supported by her brother, that Diana was duped into all of it.
Exactly. I also think the Daily Mail has gone back to this story because there is nothing coming out of the Palace about Harry and Meghan.
Yes. All of this. And of course, Martin Bashir isn’t white. So a perfect target.
From an old guardian piece: “ his last boss at ITV, Anderson, argues Bashir-bashing is a symptom of professional jealousy laced with snobbery. ‘Martin is a working class boy from a poor, Muslim family and when he became successful it was resented,’ Anderson says.”
Also, discrediting Diana’s interview will help them try to whitewash H&M’s interview…in their minds.
Every time I read something about the Royal Family I remember Meghan’s words…..Nothing is what it looks like.
Exactly. Al I know is Diana wrote in her own words that they wanted her to die through a car accident. She then actually dies via a car accident. Coincidence? Who knows? Eroding her legacy will still not make the rest of the world look kindly on the rest of the royals.
Nor will they forget how Diana was truly treated by not only her vile husband but the powers to be as well. It was instrumental in Diana telling her side of the story and as Meghan mentioned and MMadison pointed out, nothing is what it looks like.
Yeah, coincidence. Unless they subconsciously also pumped anti seatbelt propaganda into her intoxicated mind.
If we dig enough we will find coincidences everywhere
Odd how this was the only time she did not buckle up. She used seatbelts religiously.
Driving (or traveling by car) is a pretty dangerous activity. A huge number of people die in traffic accidents every year.
Honestly, the BRF sounds awful, but also incompetent. I have a hard time believing they could have pulled this off without being found out.
Tessa
Diana had been photographed numerous times without a seatbelt. Even post divorce when you would think more precautions should have been observed if she felt that way.
How could that be seen? Unless someone was in the car with her with a camera. Her own sisters said she “religiously” buckled up. And they would be the ones to know.
When Diana’s bodyguard ( one that she was close to) died in a car accident, Diana said she thought they ‘bumped him off’. Those were her words. She hired someone to look into it, who reassured her it was an accident. But the point is she believed they were capable of doing that and pulling it off successfully. she knew they could do it if they wanted to.
Camilla has always been cold and competitive with the other women in Charles’ life whereas Diana was able to befriend Kanga. Diana and Charles were an arranged match essentially so I think it’s completely plausible nothing but closeness and feelings of attraction happened between Charles and Tiggy but the Palace thought the “optics” were better than with Camilla. Tiggy really was the uncomplicated country girl that the royals originally thought Diana would be.
Whatever Martin Bashir said or did to get the interview, Diana still said what she said.
I agree with you but I’m not sure I will describe Tiggy as an uncomplicated country girl. I remember her many photo ops with ‘the boys’ and she was mentioned in the papers far too often for a nanny. I believe the objective was to make Diana look crazy and they almost succeeded.
Yes. She was quite a piece of work but she’s being whitewashed big time I see.
She always looked smug and like she was playing the “Cool Girl” to show up Diana and maybe even Camilla.
I never did understand why Camilla married PB if she loved Charles so much.
Uncomplicated for the royals because Tiggy actually wanted to spend her time at country pursuits while Diana was more metropolitan.
I just read the wiki page. Tiggy seems quite full of herself. I know Harry is still very close with her and he’s the godfather of one of her children and I think her son was in William’s wedding. I wonder how Tiggy’s old snotty attitudes towards movies and popcorn and tennis!!!! vs. rifles and hunting tracks with Meghan. She was at the christening so perhaps Tiggy has softened over time.
Kalana
Tiggy was at the christening because she was invited… and possibly had a role in the ceremony. I doubt anyone’s views have softened since their views keep their standing good.
Tiggy had an image and role to play in the palaces narratives Against Diana and she did it gladly and fully aware. She leaned Into that good PR like she really had a shot at being princess of Wales.
There is no way the Queen was going to allow Charles to marry ‘the nanny’. I think that Tiggy, herself, was behind a great deal of that gossip. And I think she enjoyed the torment it caused Diana (and Camilla for that matter).
Diana did not get the memo her marriage was arranged. It seems that history is being rewritten. It was not a case of Caroline of Brunwick marrying George IV (then Prince of Wales) via arranged marriage and they just met on their wedding day. Charles courted Diana took her out on dates, took her to meet his parents. Both were free to walk. And arrangements in any case do not give men permission to cheat on their wives.
Well, Diana certainly didn’t think theirs was a great love story. Their few dates were chaperoned, right? And were more like a long job interview than a relationship. Diana was a naive teenager in over her head who thought she could eventually get her husband to fall in love with her.
She told Morton and Bashir she loved Charles. I believe her. She was a young woman of 19 when Charles courted her and he was an “older man.” She believed he courted her because he loved her. Not all the dates were chaperoned. She and Charles took long walks together at Balmoral, she told Morton that he would “ring her up” and they would go walking around the countryside. They were not chaperoned when she was watching him go fishing and they saw the paparazzi around and she ran off. They went on dates together and did have alone time. Diana did not think she would have to “get him” to fall in love with her. She thought that he married her because he loved her and his exes would be history. IF she thought she would have had to “get him” to fall in love with her she would have walked. Charles never should have put her in a position where she’d have to “compete” for his affections.
@Tessa
That…kinda makes her sound stupid, tbh. I mean, I feel for her, that family put her through the ringer, but she was a pretty easy mark.
Camilla gave her approval because she thought Diana would be “the perfect mouse” according to various sources. Too bad she fell for Charles line.
@tcbc She was 19 and in love. Either of those things can make someone “stupid.” Put it together and you’ve got the perfect mark. Diana was not stupid, she was just young and in love with an older man who lovebombed and manipulated her. If you don’t think it could happen to you, it’s more likely to.
Which is bizarre, because I (as a 15-year-old poor girl from Oklahoma) was fully aware it was arranged.
I believe the only man Diana truly wanted was Charles but he didn’t want her.
Well yes Diana was able to befriend Kanga but that was probably due to them both loathing Camilla.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I think that was true for Diana and kanga
Okay now I’m reading her wiki page too, and wow. Talk about well connected.
I agree that I dont like the current investigation into the panaroma interview because it feeds into the idea that Diana was easily manipulated and had no control or agency over her own life at that point in time. But she did – she wanted to give that interview. It doesnt mean Martin Bashir was completely above board, but she wasnt tricked into doing something she didnt want to do.
I agree, Diana wanted her side to be told and was willing. I don’t think MB had to sweeten the deal too much and I think he did not have a clue as to how much Diana wanted her story told – her story told by her.
She may have wanted to give an interview, but I don’t think it’s necessarily hard to manipulate someone who has been put apart like that. Yes men and courtiers abound on all sides, and if they’re your main sounding board, if you KNOW (as Diana did) that you’re being gaslit and treated poorly and you also rely on tabloids, I can see how it would be very difficult to figure out where the truth is. I don’t think that’s a reflection on Diana, I think that’s a reflection on that whole situation.
Wait, Tiggy sued Diana? woow. Didn’t know that
Tiggy is no innocent in this. She baited Diana to the media and put down her mothering style saying DIana gives the boys popcorn and they watch films while I give them shotguns and take them hunting. She also called them “her boys.” Tiggy was not squeaky clean. She could have not put down the boys’ mother. And Charles certainly should not have allowed it.
Agreed, that is super-inappropriate behavior for a nanny. It’s hurtful to kids to hear people (especially people they trust/like) badmouth their parents.
None of that excuses publicly (or privately!) commenting on another woman’s alleged abortion. That was vile of Diana.
Diana should have blamed Charles. He set up the situation with a “surrogate mother” and I believe he did this for spite.
I find the aristo names so funny, Tiggy ,Pippa, Poppy ,Arabella etc they sound like stripper names. In another world they would be deemed trashy.
It’s rich white people nicknames. I know someone whose mom is “Muffy” and grandma is “Buffy.” In my world, those would be toy dog names but to them, they call each other that with straight faces, although I gather they shortened over the years to “Muff” and “Buff.”
I think Muffy and Buffy are American rich white people nicknames…..Preppy names. Southerners also often give their kids funny nicknames, or they did. My parents were among them. My father was always called “Buzz” or “Buzzy” even though it bore nor resemblance to his actual name (to be fair Buzz was a common nickname then, think Buzz Aldrin). My mother had a very classic, traditional name, one which has spawned a dozen or so potential nicknames….but she was called “Wattie” because…..her grandmother’s maiden name was Watkins. Yeah, it’s silly.
@chaine and @ann I’m dying over here. Lol We’re not rich or southern but I have a sister Muffy and a brother Buzz. Lol Muffy came about because our sister Sara couldn’t say ‘Martha’ and if came out ‘Muffy’ and our brother William because another sister couldn’t say ‘brother’ but rather ‘buzzer’. But both nicknames stuck. Lol And it always strikes me as funny with my sister because she’s as far away from what you would stereotypically think of as a Muffy. Lol
Sigh. I am not rich but have been called Buff since I was a baby. My brothers could not pronounce my given name and it stuck. My mom later called it my “real name” because it was given to me by my brothers. My family doesn’t tend to nickname, it just happened and I never felt I had to grow out of it.
I’m Italian-American, and we don’t have cutesy nicknames, but we repeat the same names over and over. Tony, Celeste, Carmella, Nick… there are several of each in my family.
‘Bunny’ is another interesting one. Used for men and women.
Yeah, people naming their daughters cutsie names to start their life out as an adorable commodity to others is interesting. I once met a brilliant young woman who was studying to become an astrophysicist whose name was Bunny. I was so mad at her parents, knowing what this would mean for her at the start of her career, but hopefully we all see it’s not the person’s choice & a name doesn’t define them.
I honestly don’t care how the interview was obtained by the bbc. Diana was certain of her words and she said them with confidence. She meant what she said. And don’t forget that there is also andrew mortons book of which diana herself was the source and there are tapes of that. The way the windsors and the right wing press are trying to rewrite diana’s legacy is disgusting. When she decided to tell her story she wasn’t the naive little girl who got into that marriage. She was a grown woman who finally regained her confidence and decided that she wasn’t going to be silent anymore
Yes to all of this.
Exactly. When she spoke up about her own story, the BRF worked to label her as crazy. Yes, Diana DID have mental health struggles but they exploited that to make themselves look better. Diana, whose mental health issues were written off when she was married into that family. I think she was the first royal to publicly speak about seeking out on her own and receiving psychological treatment as well. She talked about it on the Morton tapes, which are featured in the Netflix doc, Diana In Her Own Words.
Cut to 25-30 years later and that same family wouldn’t allow one of their own to seek treatment for suicidal ideation because “it’s not a cute look for us.” History is repeating itself to an extent.
This family will never, ever learn. Nor do I think they care to.
Lots or gaslighting. After the Morton book (although the connection to Diana was not known then)–Charles friends came forward to say C and C were “just friends.” And about two years later Charles admitted they were more than friends. Nicholas Soames Charles friend even went to the media to do some gaslighting.
I know that Diana is remembered as a saint, but ALL people have light and dark in them. Can you imagine taunting another woman because she had an abortion, even if that woman was your husband’s mistress?
Yes.
Yep.
Same. I don’t understand this new school stuff where a wife is supposed to feel some kind of kinship and sisterhood with her husband’s mistress. Reminds me of people trying to shame Hillary for not excusing or forgiving Monica. Give me a break.
Yes Nyro, that is exactly what it reminded me of too.
The royals are not saints. Charles behaved inappropriately with Tiggy kissing and hugging her in public which would not be accepted today with the Me Too Movement. Camilla reportedly could not stand Tiggy and was allegedly instrumental in getting her fired. She called her the “hired help.”
If I had good reason to think my husbands family was plotting for this woman to take over my kids and my life and I was being gaslit in public every day, I can imagine saying horrible things to everyone involved.
Me too. Let’s remember they almost broke Meghan – an accomplished woman who was not brainwashed about the monarchy. Diana almost out of her teens when she met PC. I can only imagine what that family did to her mental state.
Yes
Diana was a really good, kind person with a huge heart, but not a saint. If I could have dinner and drinks with any royal it would be Diana.
I liked Diana because she was not a saint. She did not behave like Kate thinking she was perfect in every way as her PR spin claims.
Yes I hate the ‘saint diana’ image, it just makes her 2 dimensional, like ‘perfect kate’ who actually is 2d. I loved Diana because she was human, more human than any of the other royals. She was complicated, emotional, insecure and made a lot of mistakes. But she also was warm, had personality and was able to connect with people. Unlike ‘perfect kate’ Diana admitted her mistakes and laid bare her problems.
She was in that environment on her own, with very few allies. I can image her paranoia was off the charts, considering there were snakes everywhere. Charles was probably banging Tiggy, gawd knows how many side pieces that man had.
If that woman was my husband’s mistress and I was stuck with him for some weird reason? Yes. I’d tear into him about it more though, but maybe she did.
I don’t trust people who are always “nice” and never say inappropriate things. Like Anne Elliot in Jane Austen’s Persuasion, I feel I that I can so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes look or say a careless or a hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varies, whose tongue never slips.
Tiggy put down Diana and her style of mothering AND called Diana’s sons “her boys.” Any one of which is fighting words.
I didn’t know Diana was going around saying she believed there was a plot to kill her in a car accident specifically. That’s pretty chilling. Huh.
Horrifying
Also it seems kind of crazy that the tabloids are publicizing that over and over again. I think they’re trying to make it sound like “she was so crazy she thought they’d kill her in a car accident, haha,” but she was killed in a car accident not long after she started worrying that they would kill her in a car accident. And right after the crown where everyone is remembering how truly evil the RF is and how insanely they treated diana and gas lighted her. And right after the whole Meghan thing where people were again reminded of how evil and gaslighting the family was PLUS how they took away the Sussexes security PLUS how they leaked their location in Canada?
So when I hear that Diana thought there was a plot to kill her in a car accident and then she died in a car accident….. my reaction isn’t “B**ch was crazy!”
From memory, I think she also claimed to have cassette tape recordings of staff talking about inappropriate behaviour from their employers, ie the royal family, and that she had these cassettes locked up for future use and safety for the staff and herself.
l love Diana, but I wish people would recognize that she was a flawed person herself, who did a lot of great things and was very kind and loving, but could also be petty and jealous too.
yes, she wanted to speak out. that doesn’t mean she wasn’t manipulated by Bashir, as well. either way, making a snarky comment at someone about their supposed abortion based on a rumor you heard, when you’re already separated and both had multiple years long affairs is not cute and I’m not surprised Tiggy sued her.
I don’t think it was Charles she was jealous about there. It was her sons, and Burke said some pretty snotty things about Diana as a mother, so…meh.
I just read her Wiki page and yeah, she definitely was snotty and out of place for a nanny to make a comment like that. but it sounds like the boys really loved her and Diana was jealous of that.
I personally think it’s entirely possible she did have an abortion, but it wasn’t Charles’. I dunno… I don’t think one snotty comment about Diana warrants Diana attacking her and spreading rumors about her, though.
Even before the rumors, Tiggy and Charles DID cause gossip in the media with them publishing photos of Charles showing much PDA with Tiggy. Charles DID behave inappropriately but this was pre Me Too movement.
Yes, and for Tiggy to make those hurtful comments is hitting below the belt. She should not have used her position to pit her duties against the mother of the children she was in the care of. Tiggy making these comments are unacceptable and should have been fired for her underhanded comments to discuss Diana’s parenting style. But Diana had every right to tell her story and the fact the the BRF and those in power are trying to paint a different story of Diana and she is not able to defend herself is abhorrent. It seems that the BRF, CH and Charles in particular are willing to go to the ends of the earth to change history for his benefit are unforgivable.
Tessa, “ but this was pre Me Too movement.” can we not pretend respect was invented within the past decade?
It’s not a surprise that she was flawed. She had been under extreme emotional distress after a decade of abuse and gaslighting. Hurt people hurt people, they say. Honestly, I have no idea who that other lady is and I’m not excusing Diana, but I understand why she behaved the way that she did. I also understand her paranioa. She wasn’t wrong. They were out to get her and how chilling is it that she later dies in a car accident.
Exactly! she lived under extreme stress and emotional abuse.. To think that Meghan became suicidal after a few years into this environment at 36 being an independent woman.. God knows what happened to Diana at 19 and she had emotional problems from her parents’ divorce.. I personally believe the Royal and the English Aristo are a dysfunctional bunch with all their affairs behind each other backs& neglecting their own children at the hand of nannies, stiff upper lipp rules.. Psychiatrists should do a Case Study into these people..
Diana was beloved BECAUSE she was real and flawed. One needs no further evidence than Tatler’s “Catherine the Great” article, which plainly compared Diana worship to Kate’s “nothing to like or dislike.” People loved Di for her messiness, her glamour and her compassion in equal parts.
And I say this even as a Meghan supporter: Meghan is too perfect/earnest for me. EVERYONE looks bad next to her. It is because she toed the line so well, that as a biracial woman she has always had to be “better,” that the tabloid stories were so unbelievable and she can come out full-force in her own defense. I’m sure with the rest of us, we can easily exhibit much worst behavior under the scrutiny and pressure of her circumstances, and if called out on it, will have little to say but…yep, and?
I think a lot of Diana’s issues with Tiggy were that William and Harry adored her, seemingly preferring to spend time with her rather than their parents. There is the famous story where William asked both his parents not to attend a parents event at Eton and invited Tiggy instead.
Ouch.
I think William behaved like a brat snubbing his parents. He should not have been allowed to do this. This is how he got to be the way he is today. Tiggy also is no innocent, she trashed Diana’s parenting to the media. she admitted having a Crush on Charles who would hug Tiggy and kiss her in public. With the Me Too Movement, I doubt he’d have gotten away with it.
William’s parents used him for their own PR images. Their marital mess was public and he had to face bullying and humiliation. As a teenager who couldn’t even escape to the privacy of his home because he was sent away to a boarding school.
Yes, he grew up to be a bitter, resentful man. And a lot of that is on him to get help to resolve his issues like his brother did and not take it out on others. But Harry took away the best examples from his parents and William took away the worst.
When we talk about William being a brat when his parents were going through their divorce, remember that he was a hurt child.
I think both of William’s parents were behaving like brats in the public – it was called the War of the Wales for a reason. I don’t blame him for not wanting to invite both and have an event that’s for him turn into a paparazzi event reading into the body language of his parents. instead of dealing with that, he invited someone who was also help raising him.
I think he’s a turd now, but I think it was a pretty understandable decision for a teen dealing with an extremely public divorce to make.
William should not have been allowed to behave that way. It was arrogance and he never really was reined in. Which has led to the problems of his thinking himself in charge of the family and having the “right” to tell Harry what to do re: his life with Meghan. William DID cooperate with Charles after DIana died with the let’s accept Camilla spin. And he got some sort of a trade off of being cocooned at University and never having to apologize for his own bad behavior and Harry got scapegoated. Very unhealthy. I don’t think a child should behave that way to his parents. They loved William and the sun rose and set on him in their eyes. Diana doted on him.I think he was a brat and grew up to be arrogant because he was not corrected.
She was hired by Charles to be a mother figure to his sons when they were with him. No wonder Diana hated her. She was specifically there to try and reduce Diana’s influence on Harry and William.
Well, that was understandable because he must have been totally embarrassed as a teenager at all the lurid stories in the press about his parents. I would prefer my nanny to come to the parents evening if I were in his shoes.
Tiggy is still close to Harry so she can’t be that bad. She was at the wedding and the christening of Archie.
I am not thrilled with how she put down DIana’s parenting style. I don’t think she was tactful to say the least. She was nice to Harry though.
You mean Harry likes the woman hired to make him love her? This is not a surprise and is actually part of the problem Diana was reacting to.
Being replaced by someone hired to make you look like a bad, boring parent who also kisses your ex husband in public and it’s in the papers, would make any parent upset. Today it would be called parental alienation.
She was the one Harry turned to after Diana died. Charles was trying to promote Camilla as “future stepmother” and perhaps it annoyed C and C that Harry turned to Tiggy. Even before the Diana story came out re: Tiggy, I thought Charles was nasty to DIana by hiring the “surrogate” with the message, see we don’t really need you DIana.
Harry is also trying to fix the relationship with his parent who cut off his security with no notice and put him and his family in mortal danger. Suffice it to say, Harry seems to be very, very forgiving.
There is a difference between being forgiving and asking someone to be a godparent to your child. Tiggy may be an abrasive personality, but it sounds like she’s always been an ally for Harry
Tiggy’s red coat dress…it’s like the 90’s version of Katie McButtons!
Everybody had at least one coat dress like that in the 1990s.
I did-I loved it.
I still have mine! I loved it so much and I have hung onto it hoping they would come back into style, except I’ve gained 30 plus lbs since then and there is no way I could squeeze myself into it.
I had one too, but it was sleeveless. Ah, the 90’s. 😀
Yes! I had a black sleeveless one that I adored!
Everyone was wearing them in the 90s! It made sense then. Kate’s just being weird.
The closer Charles gets to the throne, the greater the efforts to discredit Diana will become. This is just another attempt to paint Diana as the crazy ex-wife, so who could blame Charles for seeking comfort elsewhere. I mean, wouldn’t anyone else have done the same? Plus if she’s crazy, how can you believe anything she says? They know they can’t pretend the whole disaster didn’t happen, so they will try and lessen the significance of Diana’s mistreatment, if not justify it completely. Especially since one of the parties involved is no longer around to give her point of view. This is really diabolical and very sad that William is on board with this.
William is a sell out.
@MsIam
Youre so riiiiiight! Already the narrative is being built that camilla was “the love of charles life and he was forced to marry diana (a virgin) to get his heirs whereas camilla, a divorced woman, was his true love.” Puke!
THe true love spin is a joke. If she were Charles would be a modern Duke of Windsor and move heaven and earth to marry his mistress. Force a divorce but not get another woman involved to get heirs for him.
Andrew Morton said Diana got this report on “good authority” and she believed it. This was in the book Diana in Pursuit of Love (2004).
Well, no one has ever proved it wasn’t true, and I don’t know why it’s being described as “ludicrous” in this linked story. It’s ludicrous that this notorious dog slept with the hot nanny and knocked her up? Give me a break.
I thought the investigation into the Martin Bashir interview was dropped 2 weeks ago. I read this around March 7, but the Oprah interview overshadowed the news.
I read that too but of course British tabloids need to discredit Bashir and Diana to elevate Charles and Camilla. Basically: DONT LOOK AT THE OPRAH INTERVIEW.
The guardian on March 4th has an article. I didn’t want to link to the guardian, below is the exact wording from the article.
“Martin Bashir will face no criminal investigation over allegations he used fake documents to persuade Diana, Princess of Wales, to take part in an explosive interview in which she opened up about her marriage and other issues.”
“The Metropolitan police said on Thursday that officers had sought legal advice from internal lawyers, independent counsel and the Crown Prosecution Service and determined their further involvement was not appropriate.”
The police investigation was dropped. The BBC is conducting its own investigation.
The palace played so many reindeer games with Diana that they can’t remember them all but I’m supposed to be mad that Diana didn’t know which ones were accurate and which were lies dreamed up to gaslight her?
Oh.
“Now, now, Diana, why on earth would you believe the sky is red just because you’ve seen with your own eyes that sometimes we make it orange and sometimes we only say it’s purple just to piss you off and make you seem irrational? ”
It would be a much simpler story if Charles would just cop to being a sack of shit and pretend he’s better now.
I don’t understand how it’s ok for any person (man or woman) to publicly speculate about a woman having an abortion. To me doing this
insinuates that abortions aren’t ok.
That’s how it was back then, though. Abortions were not ok, if you had one most people would consider you bad in multiple ways, and it was totally mean girl gossip fodder. If you had one, you did it in secret and no one could know.
THIS. Like, who cares as long as it was her own choice?
I’ve always liked/admired Diana and it makes me sad to think that she bought into the idea that having an abortion was something a woman should be ashamed of.
not only that a woman should be ashamed of it, but that she was “elated” to call her out in a rumor and spread it in the press.
honestly all the adults in William and Harry’s life acted like petulant high schoolers at times. it’s not surprising they struggle in the way that they do.
William is responsible for his own bad behavior. Turning against his brother and all that. The days of his blaming Mom and Dad are over. He’s pushing 40.
Diana did not spread the rumor to the press, she whispered it to Tiggy.
@Jocey Attitudes toward abortion have changed in the last 25 years.
I guess I am missing a sensitivity chip (call me Brad? Ha old joke) but if my HUSBAND was rumored to have slept with my kids’ nanny and then this brazen woman bashed my parenting in public and was rumored to have had an abortion….my blood is boiling now just thinking about it. I don’t think I would have kept my cool either.
Ditto. If some other woman was in any way (perceived or otherwise) trying to get between me and my sons, the daggers would be flashing every time I saw her. If I then heard about any kind of proof of a pregnancy, I´d have to duct tape my mouth shut to contain all of the hateful thoughts even if I no longer wanted the ex. Selfish or extreme pain? Doesn’t fix the shitty meanness of flaunting that crap to undermine the relationship with her children.
Abortions are fine. Another woman having sex with my husband would not be. I can very easily understand wanting to hit below the belt in any way possible in that situation. I’d ditch him rather than thinking about her, but if I were forced to spend time with her for some reason? Yeah, I’d be very nasty.
Diana also believed they were going to kill Camilla as well. Camilla was in a minor car accident in June of 1997. She got away with a minor head injury, but there was an issue with her immediately fleeing the scene. Both accidents were 100% accidents, but I’ve always thought it might have explained why they left the hotel that night. There was no reason for them to leave Dodi’s hotel. They were perfectly safe and had stayed there before. The paps were outside, but no reason to leave the way they did. They were safer inside the hotel. If it had been a plan than the driver wouldn’t have been drunk. It was clearly spur of the moment and I think it was because Diana was paranoid about something. Not that she didn’t have a right to be given her belief that she and Camilla would be killed and Camilla’s accident. The cards were just really stacked against her.
I don’t blame Diana for being suspicious. There were a lot of weird things that night, the cameras in the tunnel being shut off, the too quick clean up of the accident site, the flashing lights, the amnesiac security guard not being able to explain why he let Henri Paul drive and the overlong trip to the hospital in that ambulance which bypassed a hospital ten minutes away. Plus Diana always had used her seatbelts.
I don’t blame Diana for being suspicious. There were a lot of weird things that night, the cameras in the tunnel being shut off, the too quick clean up of the accident site, the flashing lights, the amnesiac security guard not being able to explain why he let Henri Paul drive and the overlong trip to the hospital in that ambulance which bypassed a hospital ten minutes away. Plus Diana always had used her seatbelts.
Sometimes it’s amazing how hard we as a collective will work to pretend things aren’t what they seem.
None of those facts are disputed and together they tell a very strange story.
the ‘overlong’ trip to the hospital was more likely a product of French paramedic protocols vs. Anglo-American ones: French paramedics prefer to stabilize the patient before moving them, which can take a considerable period (as it did with Diana) whereas British or American ambulances will just rush you to the hospital asap.
You’re Wrong About has a good episode dedicated to the crash and Diana’s death. while it is very spooky that Diana predicted she’d be killed in a ‘car accident’, it would be a tremendous, incredible feat for the BRF/MI5/whoever to have successfully murdered the most famous woman in the world in the middle of Paris in front of multiple eyewitnesses and then covered it up.
what gets me and those who analyzed the event was the over quick clearing of the crash site. Usually investigations are made and the evidence is not cleared away. The French method of Diana’s treatment in essence doomed her. She should have been taken to the closest hospital. Every minute counted since she was bleeding to death. And the fact that the cameras were off that night is something else that is bothersome. It is also doubtful that the bodyguard will ever regain his full memory.
The sad part is that wearing a seat belt might have saved her life. Her injuries were reportedly all internal, IIRC.
A two-second click might have made a huge difference for both Diana and Dodi.
Yes, in interviews following her death, medical experts in the US and UK said that she may have survived the crash had it happened in either of these two countries. The US and UK protocol is to get the injured to an emergency room ASAP, it’s why we have road precedence for ambulances and life flight helicopters. They said the French treat/”stabilize” the patient at the accident site and in the ambulance first. Italy’s the same apparently. Around the same time as Diana’s death, it was reported a British family vacationing in Italy lost their teen son in a car accident as he wasn’t rushed to a hospital in time.
I just started listening to You’re Wrong About… for Diana and I’m only on the first episode, but his only two sources are Morton’s book and Tina Brown’s book. Do they bring in more sources along the way? Because I’m not sure how people can be “wrong” about someone if everyone has read the same two books.
@Tessa & Carabella: The slow ambulance ride to the hospital was because her heart kept stopping and they had to resuscitate her several times. You can’t do that in a racing vehicle. The hospital they took her to specializes in traumatic chest and heart injuries with some of the best surgeons in Europe. The injuries to her chest were quite significant and involved a tiny tear in a vital vein in one of her lungs that sent her into cardiac arrest several times. There are a million conspiracy theories about her death out there that simply aren’t true. Only one of the CCTV cameras in the tunnel wasn’t working and the blinding flash that incapacitated Henri Paul was the camera of one of the paps chasing them. Henri Paul was drunk – there’s video of him at the bar for hours downing drink after drink. It was actually Dodi al Fayed who insisted he drive, who insisted they leave the Ritz and go to his place, who insisted Paul drive faster and faster. He was driving approximately 70 MPH going into the tunnel in a 40 MPH zone and that tunnel is steep with a precipitous turn at the bottom. He lost control of the car and smashed into a pillar.
As far as Diana’s fear of being killed, her close friend Rosa Monckton said that not long after she started meeting with Bashir she changed – that she started to have all sorts of paranoid thoughts of being bugged, followed, threatened, etc. and Rosa believes Bashir was feeding her many of these fake stories and telling Diana he had documentation to prove it. I’m glad the BBC is doing a deep dive into the allegations about Bashir because it’s as fishy as hell.
Diana was friends with Dr. Christian Barnard. He maintained that the way to save Diana was for her to get to the hospital ASAP instead of dragging her along in a slow ambulance, Even if they could get her to the hospital ten minutes away and bring in the doctors and equipment since she was bleeding to death. Reagan’s injury from the assassination attempt was far worse than those on the scene thought. He would have been Dead had he been going in a slow moving car. It was a matter of choice, what would Diana’s best chance be. I would have voted for a scoop and run, even a helicopter. As far as being paranoid, I don’t blame Diana after being with That family for ten years.
@Becks- I recently listened to the whole “you’re wrong about” Diana series. It’s entertaining! Yes he leans heavily on those two sources but brings in a few more along the way, also includes some fun photos and fashion analysis. The “wrong about” part is more for the general public: “You may think Diana was a saint, she wasn’t entirely! You may think Diana was a nutcase, she wasn’t entirely! She was a complicated nuanced human!” And so on. Probably no new info for you or other royal followers, but IMO it’s a thoughtful and well-balanced rehash of the facts. And a good listen! Made my commute fly by.
It took 40 minutes to cut Diana out of the car, during which time she went into cardiac arrest but was revived at the scene. She had another cardiac arrest in the ambulance and it had to be stopped in order for the doctor to attempt to get her heart going without knowing the extent of her internal injuries – very delicate treatment under the circumstances and a moving vehicle could have jeopardized the situation. There are many out there who have differing opinions but I’ll stick with the opinions of the treating doctors, not conspiracy theorists or armchair medical experts.
The slow ride clearly didn’t help. There’s a reason the US and the UK have their “get to the hospital and its surgeons, specialist equipment, and skilled nurses FAST” protocol: Speed saves the most lives.
French approach Slow, Cautious Vs US Fast Intervention.. They did manage to stabilize her during the slow ambulance ride but she eventually died due to internal bleeding something they didn’t discover until it was too late and they don’t have the equipment to examine for internal bleeding ect in an ambulance.. I think if it was in the US they would have managed to stabilize her& get her to hospital for treatment at the same time I didn’t like how they went past other hospitals time is everything for that kind of injuries..
I agree, Demi. For an ambulance to drive right past a hospital with a patient in her condition bothers me, too.
Tiggy helped out Harry, a plus for her. BUt she was not perfect, she smoked in front of the boys. And put down Diana as a mother, which would should have caused her being fired. Tiggy admitted to a crush on Charles and Charles was very touchy feely with her. Today, he would have been criticized by the me too movement. Camilla also could not stand Tiggy and she was OUT.
Tessa, in case you see this, since you keep repeating it: that’s not what the metoo movement is about, and these types of comments sort of diminish it. Just FYI.
What a dysfunctional way of life.. So Charles was married to Diana but was having an affair with Camilla who was married to one of Charles’s friends.. Camilla’s husband was having an affair with other women and Diana had affairs with other men some of who were married as well. Oh and even Charles’s sister dated Camilla’s husband and Charles went out with Diana’s sister before.. people talk about 3 party relationships but damn how MANY people are in This relationship??
I think the only possible Married Man that Diana was involved with was Hoare. He is dead and so is Diana so neither can comment. He had stayed with his wife. He was Charles friend BTW and he had been involved with another woman whose husband fathered a child with another woman. Carling denied an affair with Diana. Otherwise Diana was involved with single men, one of whom Hewitt betrayed her by selling the story of his involvement with Diana.
@Tessa
Did Diana not also stalk Hoare calling his home repeatedly to the point it aggravated his wife?
He may have denied it, but I remember the news breaking about Diana and Will Carling. I’m pretty sure his wife threw him out
There was Will Carling. That was pretty ugly.
Hoare pursued Diana he called her a lot according to Jephson and Wharfe and visited her at Kensington Palace. The man cannot claim victimhood. He also was involved with another woman whose husband cheated on her and she went public with it. He was no angel. He and his wife stayed together. Hoare was the one who pursued Diana and HE is not innocent by any means. I hope his wife gave him a talking to and did not blame it all on Diana.
Diana should have stayed away from Carling (he and his wife had marital struggles from the time they got married) but Carling said there was no affair. Julia Carling had no leg to stand on and Diana could not be named co -respondent.
Oliver Hoare’s wife had the money. He had to convince her it was Diana doing the running to prevent her throwing him out.
Part of the issue is that the upper class are a very closed circle, so they like to keep it all in the family.
Diana was easily swayed because she was vulnerable? No, she was skeptical of everyone and for good reason. Also for good reason she was paranoid about dying in a car crash.
I would be paranoid if I was in that system too I think she did what she did to survive in that world imagine marrying into this mess at 19..
that wiki page really is bonkers. whew.
What did Tiggy do while the boys were at Eton for most of the year? I wish someone would write a book about what really happened and the strange royal logistics of the childhoods of William and Harry and not just repeat royal pr and propaganda. The lifestyle is so strange than it would be great to take that approach to covering them. Even the constant moving around to home to home and reliance on staff and what it means in that world to be doing well versus not doing well.
Wow. This is enlightening. One of the more mortifying moves Diana made was that comment to Tiggy. Now it makes more sense. No wonder her brother is pissed with Bashir.
A little off topic but one thing that’s incredibly telling for me is that Harry is still very close to Tiggy and Mark Dyer. I know this will go over like a lead balloon but I don’t think Harry would be overly close to Diana had she lived either. I think The War of the Waleses really messed both of the princes up and prevented them from being close to either of their parents. Harry had the luxury William didn’t of being given more stability in the nannies. There’s a reason why switching nannies out is considered a big deal in families that can afford them because the parents know stability is important to a child’s development and the nanny is there because the parents cannot provide that. Diana went through 3 nannies by the time William was 5. I doubt Harry remembers his first, it’s pretty much always been Tiggy for him. I think that goes a long way in explaining changes in their personality and behavior.
As far as the car crash, I’m of the mind that some people are born knowing how they will die. I know that sounds crazy but I just believe it. My husband had a friend who was convinced he’d die by drowning and was afraid of water for many years. He died in a boating accident.
I think things would be more or less the same. William would be cocooned and protected and Harry would be scapegoated by the royals. Diana though would have been around to protect Harry and not treated william more “special.”
As far as the car crash premonition though, same thing happened with Natalie Wood who had a lifelong fear of water and she died by drowning.
I think it’s an interesting question. It’s hard to be close to parents who put you through so much. I will always defend Diana, and I believe she was a victim of both the people and the circumstances around her. That said, it was an objectively bad idea for her to be spending time with Dodi Fayed, and I think that’s probably where Harry has a hard time understanding her choices. But she was a woman trying to find her way. Even if it bothered Diana, it was good for the boys to have stability with Tiggy, and they obviously care for her to this day.
She was dating Dodi. There was no evidence they were getting married despite what Dodi’s father claims. She had just as much a right to date as Charles did they were divorced. If she wanted a Summer Romance good for her. I doubt she was going to rush into another marriage. Harry was more amenable to a remarriage according to Diana because he did not want to be the YOUNGEST. I think Will was more judgmental as much as he is today.
I wonder how much of this side of their mother William and Harry knows.
I wonder how much of the bad side of their dad William and Harry know. Diana’s bad treatment by Charles and the family brought out a lot of her behavior and I don’t blame her. She had to use the media to get her side out. William has the worst features of his mother and father. So he would not be in a position to judge his mother IMO.
@Petulia
William knew. Diana made him her confidant. Today that will be called abuse.
I disagree. Diana never “abused” her children. For one thing William did not hang about the house all year, he was away at = Boarding School and Diana was not a stay at home mom. She worked and did tours. Diana told William in advance what the headlines would bring. If she did not she would have also been criticized. Penny Junor does claim that Diana was a “bad mother” and she IS a self declared Charles person. Both Wiliam and Harry always spoke highly of their mother and will always speak well of her. Charles was the one who complained about his own upbringing. I never heard this from Harry or William.
Tessa, the “William as confidante” thing is something that never quite sounded right for the reasons you mentioned. The timeline just doesn’t seem to match up when you consider that he was at boarding school more than he was home, especially by the time the War of the Waleses got going, and then he would have been splitting time with each parent. After seeing what was done to Meghan, I find myself looking back and questioning a lot of what the British press started putting out there in the years after Diana’s death once Charles got his image rehab tour going.
One part of the interview that really struck me was when Harry said “there is a lot of hurt there.” I think Harry and William both know who their parents were. But they can only reckon with their father. It must be hard to reconcile the good childhood memories they had with Tiggy, because she was there for them vs. the dynamics at play between their parents at the time and the affairs they both had. I think Harry summed it up perfectly, and probably wrestles with it all.
I think William has never been able to forgive this side of her that’s why he went to the opposite direction with his choice of wife.
While Harry chose to focus on the good in her.
I think they probably know a lot of this side, but I also think they…..dont care? Either of them – I think they know their mother was flawed but they still wish she was alive today. Hearing that their mom was rude to their beloved nanny or thought their nanny was having an affair with their father wouldnt change that.
William and Harry know more about their parents than we will ever know.
I’m side eyeing comments that criticize Diana for being jealous of the woman who was deliberately placed in her children’s path to lessen her influence on them, influence that was called into question primarily because she wasn’t the cookie cutter royal wife they expected her to be.
I feel like people hold Diana to an impossible standard. We seem to expect women to be perfect mothers regardless of what they’re suffering or how they are treated and that’s simply not realistic.
Diana was wrong in a number of ways, no getting around it but it feels like she did the best she was capable of in the system she found herself.
@DS9 Show me a parent that doesn’t do something to hurt their children and I’ll show you the worst parent on the planet. Diana was human and we have the right to look at her life in a more holistic sense. She made her problems William and Harry’s problems and I think it is right to criticise her for this aspect without using it to take away from her overall legacy. Even if she was right to be suspicious, it is something we can see where the effect was negative. That is something people can learn from.
What I think people forget is the history. Diana had sparred with the first two nannies and had them fired. Charles wasn’t having it and so he chose Tiggy and basically made Diana keep Tiggy even though Diana considered her worse than the first nanny. Diana thought Tiggy was a spy for Charles as well as other members of the KP household at the time. Diana’s mental health was poor and she did have a lot of paranoia by the time she did the Bashir interview. She did seem to bounce back once the divorce was underway and she was freed from the nightmare. She seemed in a healthier place by the time she died and it would have been interesting to see her personality play out if she had lived. But she wasn’t perfect and we can see where the problem is. Whether that paranoia Diana experienced was valid is what historians will debate now and after we’re all dead and gone. But the fact Diana was so paranoid when it came to the nannies and the instability that paranoia created for the children (especially William) should be noted when discussing why the current present exists.
Charles and Diana were separated. Charles and Charles alone hired Tiggy and was the only one who could have fired her even if Diana wanted her fired. William acted out a lot including at the York Wedding which was why the nanny was dismissed. Charles and Diana before the separation BOTH employed the nannies. So he was in on it too. Diana did not employ Tiggy, CHarles did. Charles I think was sending a message that “we don’t need you” to Diana. I don’t think Charles did this for “noble” reasons.
I don’t understand what you’re arguing or how you decided that’s what needed to be argued out of what I said but ooookay.
@DS9 I agree with your whole comment, you’ve summed it up well.
This is A) about the right wing media trying to bring down Martin Bashir, a Muslim man, who is resented because of the fact he got this interview and they (the RR) didn’t
B) If he manipulated Diana, then she didn’t really mean it- that is the benefit to Clarence House – win/win for them
C) Tiggy surely didn’t want this dredged up. Is the speculation about her personal life (whether she had an abortion) being splashed across the headlines because she’s been an ally to Harry? You wouldn’t make someone the godparent of your child (especially in the middle of the battles they were having) unless they remained pretty special to you.
I never knew anything about the nanny, and how much drama surrounded her. I guess it was bound to happen to any nanny of those boys during the divorce. Although she was cut from Charles’ inner circle, and was likely just one more adversary to Diana, it does seem like she was genuinely there for William and Harry during those crazy divorce years, hence why they both included her in the important events of their lives. Judging off pictures, she strikes me as a fun loving, flirtatious, aristocratic woman who just does whatever she wants. I don’t mean that as a compliment, really, just that she probably didn’t have to care what Diana thought. Charles should have included Diana in any decision about child rearing.
Poor Diana, the cards were really stacked against her.
Martin Bashir may have said some things to Diana but she was aoways going to speak out whether it was to him or not. She rightly realised that she had to put her side on record. Look at how decades later they still can’t live down her words, and so are now trying to say that she was duped into saying them.
And yes she was flawed with her actions but I’ve come to be a lot more sympathetic to her plight and the fact that she had to grow up, toughen up and fight fire with fire. She was up against huge institutions waging war on against her. And these people do not respect any weakness instead they see it as a sign to go harder and break you.
Look at how Meghan told them about her mental issues in the summer of 2019 and they didn’t see it as a sign to back off but instead went harder at her.
I think time has more than proven that Diana wasn’t paranoid. We have seen in real time how BP operates and I have no doubt that they were pushing the Tiggy narrative (whether it was true or not) to paint Diana as crazy and alienate her. These are the same people who removed Meghan’s name from her child’s birth certificate. They have no issues trying to erase mothers.
And they were trying to get rid of Camilla as well.
Diana was no saint, gtfoh. I’m not sure any of our saints are truly ‘saintly’ –
I get it, but let’s be real here. Diana inspired true change. It was incredible. I remember how terribly people with AIDS & HIV were mistreated before Diana showed us it was not transmissible by mere touch.
They bring up Diana because the Tabloids have nothing to talk about to make cash other than Meghan. And I think they’re been told to leave the rest of the Royals alone. They cannot make money doing puff pieces on the BRF. I expect the UK media Hate fest on Meghan to continue daily for years.
The whole bunch is quite boring since Harry left. There may be some fears with the news coming about Ghislaine Maxwell’s trail.
I’m sure they’ll find a way that lemon and olive oil is bad for the environment or something…
I read the DM article yesterday (I know, I know) about ‘poor Tiggy’. There was a photo of her and Charles that looked very cosy. It immediately caught my eye as he was close to her and had his hand on her (on her shoulder I think). It just seemed very odd because he’s always so stiff and formal even with someone like his niece Zara or even his grandchildren. But the article quoted Diana saying that Charles would never sleep with ‘a servant’. I was prepared to call BS on him diddling Tiggy but that photo….
Though we probably should consider it as ‘poor Tiggy’ even if there was an affair. Big age gap and massive power difference and employer-employee. All the things that should shout ‘me too’. You can dislike Tiggy’s persona and privilege but she was just as likely a victim of someone more powerful as anyone else who has been in an employer-employee situation.
Isn’t Tiggy, along with the red hair bodyguard (I think it was Diane’s ex bodyguard) Archie’s godparents?
Yes. The red-haired man is Mark Dyer. He is a former Welsh Guards officer and also served as an Equerry to Prince Charles in the 1990s. He acted as a ‘mentor’ to Harry.
Charles’ having a sexual relationship with Harry and William’s nanny would squash all the talk about how he “really wanted to marry Camilla but wasn’t allowed” lie that keeps being spread. Camilla wasn’t Charles’ only sidepiece and be was PERFECTLY fine having a wife AND mistresses (just like every single Prince of Wales before him). The star-crossed lovers thing between him and Camilla was more of the PR spin to clean up both their images after Diana’s untimely death.