Princess Diana was ‘half scared’ by Martin Bashir while doing an interview, says biographer Andrew Morton | UK News

Princess Diana’s biographer said she was “half-dead” afraid of being interviewed by Martin Bashir because of her lies – but would have said what she thought in any interview.

Andrew Morton said there was a “mile-long line outside Kensington Palace” to interview him and there was “no doubt. Diane was going to say what she thought ”.

He said Bashir would never have had the 1995 interview, but he did as he “scared his other half to death”.

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An investigation into how Bashir got Diana to talk to him, a youngster BBC reporter at the time, discovered this week that he had given his brother Earl Spencer fake bank statements showing payments from his former employee to News International and a trust fund.

Lord Dyson, who led the independent investigation, also discovered that top BBC executives covered up Bashir’s lies in an investigation they conducted in 1996.

Mr Morton told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “He made him think he had contacts inside MI5, he was very plausible he had meetings in underground parking lots – they’re scary at the best of times – but when you think your life is in danger, that was very powerful.

“She was put into a state of fear and worry and it encouraged her to speak out.

“When she gave the interview, it wasn’t a case of self-indulgence, as a lot of people thought, but it was about self-preservation, she thought she was a target, she thought of. what Bashir said she was under gun, in the establishment’s sights.

“Remember, she lived like this for most of her adult life.”

The author and journalist said he disagreed with Prince William and Prince Harry that what she said in the interview was influenced by Bashir.

“Diana wanted to speak her truth and she had been stifled for a long time …