Alexandra Pettifer has also received a public apology for fabricated allegations she had an affair with Prince Charles which were used to obtain a 1995 interview with Princess Diana
Alexandra Pettifer, better known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, a former nanny to Britain’s Prince Wiliam and Prince Harry, walks outside the High Court, London. AP
Princes William and Harry’s former nanny has received ‘substantial damages’ from the BBC as well as a public apology.
The BBC paid Alexandra Pettifer, known at the time as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, over “false and malicious” claims about her used to obtain a 1995 interview with Princess Diana.
Pettifer in addition received a public apology for “fabricated” allegations that she had an affair with the princes’ father, Prince Charles.
Let’s take a closer look at what happened:
The interview
In 1995, little-known Martin Bashir secured an interview to the then Princess Diana.
The explosive interview saw Diana detail her troubled marriage to Charles, his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, and how she had also been unfaithful.
Questions were immediately Bashir secured Diana’s agreement to take part in the programme, which sent shockwaves through the royal family.
As per the BBC, the interview which aired three years after Prince Charles and Diana separated and was viewed by 22.8 million in the UK was described by commentators at the time as a “bombshell” that destroyed the image of a “contented, caring and united” Royal Family.
As per The Guardian, Bashir is alleged to have spread the accusations in a successful attempt to win Diana’s trust and convince her to sit down for the Panorama interview.
Bashir also created fake bank statements and suggested people close to Diana were selling stories to newspapers and alleging some of her aides were in the pay of the security services.
What Pettifer was falsely accused of
The High Court in London was told that Pettifer was falsely accused of becoming pregnant by Prince Charles when she was his personal assistant and of having an abortion.
Pettifer’s lawyer, Louise Prince, said the allegations caused “serious personal consequences for all concerned” and her client did not know where they came from.
But she said it was likely that the “false and malicious allegations arose as a result and in the context of BBC Panorama’s efforts to procure an exclusive interview with Diana, Princess of Wales”.
Pettifer’s lawyer said the “totally unfounded” claims “appeared to exploit some prior false speculation in the media” about her and Charles.
“After Diana, Princess of Wales, became aware of the allegations in late 1995, she became upset with the claimant without apparent justification,” she added.
She said Diana confronted Pettifer about the allegation in late 1995, and told a member of the royal household that she had a hospital letter proving the abortion happened, as per Economic Times.
“As the allegation of an abortion was totally false, any such letter could only have been fabricated,” her lawyer said said.
Prince said Pettifer “holds the BBC liable for the serious impact the false and malicious allegations have had” which had caused her “25 years of lies, suspicion and upset”.
What Pettifer said
Pettifer said she was one of many people whose life had been “scarred” by the way the programme was made and the BBC’s failure to investigate properly afterwards.
“The distress caused to the royal family is a source of great upset to me,” she added.
“I know first-hand how much they were affected at the time, and how the programme and the false narrative it created have haunted the family in the years since.”
Pettifer’s statement read: “I am disappointed that it needed legal action for the BBC to recognise the serious harm I have been subjected to. Sadly, I am one of many people whose lives have been scarred by the deceitful way in which the BBC Panorama was made and the BBC’s subsequent failure to properly investigate the making of the programme.
“The distress caused to the royal family is a source of great upset to me. I know first-hand how much they were affected at the time, and how the programme and the false narrative it created have haunted the family in the years since. Especially because, still today, so much about the making of the programme is yet to be adequately explained.”
What did BBC say?
BBC director-general Tim Davie confirmed the corporation would pay “substantial damages” to Pettifer and pledged not to show the programme again.
He also apologised to her, Charles, William and Harry “for the way in which Princess Diana was deceived and the subsequent impact on all their lives”.
“Had we done our job properly Princess Diana would have known the truth during her lifetime. We let her, the royal family and our audiences down. Now we know about the shocking way that the interview was obtained I have decided that the BBC will never show the programme again; nor will we license it in whole or part to other broadcasters,” Davie vowed.
“It does, of course, remain part of the historical record and there may be occasions in the future when it will be justified for the BBC to use short extracts for journalistic purposes, but these will be few and far between and will need to be agreed at executive committee level and set in the full context of what we now know about the way the interview was obtained. I would urge others to exercise similar restraint.”
The BBC has previously paid damages to Diana’s former aide Patrick Jephson and a graphic designer who blew the whistle on the underhand methods used.
With inputs from agencies
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