This needs to continue to be pointed out and repeated: Martin Bashir’s manipulative actions caused Princess Diana to choose him as interviewer and that’s it. Bashir did not provide Diana with a script, nor was he the one to convince her to give an interview in general. Diana wanted to give an interview. She had a narrow window of time in which to give an interview. She was approached by different journalists, and she chose Bashir based on the falsified documents and rumors. If Bashir had not done that, Diana likely would have gone to another journalist and/or another broadcaster. I hate this revisionist history that “if not for Bashir, none of this would have happened.” That’s what Prince Charles wants people to believe. That’s what Prince William wants people to believe.
I bring this up because, as we discussed this week, The Crown’s producers have confirmed that they’re devoting an entire episode in Season 5 to Diana’s Panorama interview. It should be good, and I’m looking forward to it. But of course Kensington Palace – and Clarence House, I would imagine – is full of bitterness. William stood up in May and bashed the BBC and Martin Bashir for his mother’s interview and the BBC apparently promised to never air it again. Okay, but The Crown is doing a dramatization! Still, Willy is furious. Frustrated. Peeved. Incandescent with rage.
Prince William is ‘frustrated’ at The Crown’s ‘commercialisation’ of Martin Bashir’s notorious interview with his mother Princess Diana which he believes holds ‘no legitimacy’ and should never be aired again. The Duke of Cambridge is understood to be deeply frustrated by broadcasters who have cashed in on the interview, in which Diana infamously said, ‘There were three of us in this marriage’.
He slammed the BBC sit down in May, saying: ‘It is my firm view that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others.’
Following news a recreation will now be aired on Netflix, a royal source told the Telegraph: ‘His words still stand.’
Despite the wave of criticism, insiders said The Crown will include an episode on it after millions were said to have been spent on the pivotal part of the upcoming instalment.
An entire episode in the upcoming fifth series will be dedicated to the shocking sit down despite the Prince Harry signing a £112million deal with the streaming service for him and his wife Meghan. The royal has been scathing of the Panorama show, which was first shown in 1995 and saw his mother air her dirty laundry on Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. He branded it ‘unethical’ and claimed the interview triggered the events that caused his mother to lose her life two years later.
Despite this, Prince Harry’s bosses at Netflix insist the special episode will go ahead as planned, according to senior sources. The insiders told the Sun newspaper last night: ‘The Crown’s creators see the interview as the keystone moment in series five. To the writers, the stormy marriage between Charles and Di led up to her outpouring on Panorama, and the aftermath of that decision defined her final months. They are making a huge investment in that. The Crown has a track record of delving into areas of the Royal Family’s history they’d rather be left alone.’
Royal expert Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, said: ‘This would be extremely upsetting and the only protection William has is not to watch it.’
Meanwhile royal commentator Margaret Holder added: ‘William was dismayed at the time. It is also embarrassing for Harry.’
I don’t understand this emphasis on “The Crown has made a huge investment in this.” While The Crown is super-expensive (it is prestige programming and a centerpiece show for Netflix), it’s not like dramatizing the Diana-Panorama interview is some crazy-expensive process. It would literally just be two actors (one of them Elizabeth Debicki) in a room, acting like Bashir and Diana. The Mail acts like The Crown will need to rent out Versailles for this.
As for William’s “frustration,” that’s something else I don’t understand – The Crown is not airing the same interview, they’re dramatizing it because it IS history and a historical artifact. And William worked with the BBC for Keenshot just months after he ripped them to shreds for the Bashir interview too, I hope he’s incandescent with rage at himself. But how dare Harry, huh?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix.
Because it confirms everything Meghan said with Oprah. He became the monster his father was.
EXACTLY!
Exactly. Suck it up buttercup. Willy is terrified that people will see the parallels and turn against him too. You reap what you sew douchebag. I hope Netflix turns the screws on you too. Because I’m pretty sure part of the story is William raging at Diana and shoving her for “embarrassing” him.
Was? You mean IS considering Harry was ran out of the country with his family and did a similar interview.
That’s why Willy and Chuck go at it in the press they are so much alike. Petty, jealous, insecure jacka**es.
In some ways I think William is worse than his father – William has always been more like Andrew personality wise and he def inherited Andrew’s bullish ways.
He’s worse than his father because he has the Spencer rage and entitlement.
Right now William has his cheating hidden so he doesn’t have to show a level of humility that Charles has had to do since the 90s once his cheating was made public. Maybe the UK media should do their job and expose the truth.
@murphy
Sounds like Windsor traits to me.
@ murphy, how is the rage that PWT displays have anything to do with the Spencer’s? That’s a highly inflammatory statement. PWT is filled with rage out of his own making, nothing more.
Again Kaiser, excellent choice of photos!!!
Diana’s father was a terrible bully, that’s why her mother bailed on the marriage. Her brother is a serial adulterer, has been openly nasty to his ex-wives and seems to be full of self-righteous anger, so it’s entirely plausible William has inherited some of the more negative Spencer traits.
@jaded wasn’t Diana’s mother seen as the villain for leaving him, whilst he got to play the victim? I think Diana said that the royal family would never mention her mother but would always say ‘poor Johnny’.
William is like his father now. In many many ways. William if anything is worse than his father. Driving out his own brother and being intolerant of Harry’s choice of wife.
@February-Pisces — I believe it was her step-mother Raine (she called her Acid Raine) who Diana referred to as a bully and it’s been reported that they fought so badly once Diana pushed her down the stairs. As for her father, after her mother’s affair was revealed he did everything he could to get custody of the children and that’s when the allegations of bullying were rumored. She had to leave Althorp abruptly when the courts ruled in his favour and was seen as the villain for sure. I don’t think Diana ever forgave her. A sad situation all round.
It was Lady Fermoy who testified against her own daughter Frances. It was said she did not want her grandchildren moved away from Althorp since it offered proximity to a royal residence, and she wanted to see if one of her granddaughters could marry Prince Charles and there was talk of Diana marrying Prince Andrew. Frances would have moved the children to London, if she had gotten custody. Raine and John Spencer met and married later on. She was not on the scene for some years after the Spencer divorce. Frances really wanted those children, but her royalist mother wanted them to stay at Althorp. Raine and Diana later became good friends.
Agree.
Spot on! “ Mirror mirror on the Wall, I am my father after all.” And we are terrible people.
Piggybacking here because I want this near the top. Please I’m begging stop posting thar picture of him. It’s giving me a visceral reaction. The nose and scrunched face? I can’t.
He looks like a British Trump when they had that picture of Trump playing around pretending to drive that truck.
I’m serious. Gross.
I had to edit this several times from disgust.
They call it “airing dirty laundry,” but we call it “naming the abuse, and the abusers.” The dirty laundry thing only works in favor of the aggressors, you brutes.
Charles aired dirty laundry the year before but gets a free pass and it is rarely referred to. His confession of adultery caused the divorce of the PBs. And he complained about how his parents treated him badly. The Spencers negative points I think pale in comparison with the Windsors bad behavior patterns. Diana’s sisters turned out just fine as did the cousins of Harry and William. I think the married in Lady Fermoy caused a great deal of damage to the Spencers, in the way she turned against her daughter Frances and her granddaughter Diana. She was a total royalist.
Willy had better watch it with that rage of his. He needs to balance his rage with self-control so that he doesn’t have a stroke at an early age.
Did he ever specify what this “false narrative” the interview supposedly established in his previous statement?
Am I overlooking some aspect of it that was BS other than the unethical means thru which it was secured?
William simply is not a rational person, ee should stop arguing for him to make sense or be consistent at this point because it is beyond him.
William is a deeply unhappy human being living in a deeply dysfunctional setting, who refuses to grow up and do serious work. At this point in his life. I am not even sure therapy would be enough to turn him into a functioning adult.
I think this is the reason the Firm bows to William and his poor work ethic…because they fear if they treat him like a adult he will break down and revert to the Billy Basher persona.
Can you imagine if William spent as much time doing literally anything as he does bitching about this show?
His problem is that William never wanted anything in his life. Say what you will of Kkkate, but she wanted William and set to have it.
William has to be convinced of everything. He had to be convinced to be a future King. Had to be convinced to stay at University when he wanted to quit. Had to be convinced to get married, his grandma telling him to either marry Kkkate or drop her. I am pretty sure Kkate had to sweet talk him to have second child, had to really push him for the third.
William is an apathetic person without goals.
I think Carole was the one who did the pushing. She would probably have summoned William for a cheese toast snack for a heart to heart. And say my daughter is so devoted to you she’d do anything for you, she would be heartbroken if you left her (etc.). And William could also not find a woman he was attracted to (other than Kate) who reciprocated his feelings, so he “settled” for Kate.
There’s nothing to “understand” here. William’s alleged frustration isn’t sourced in any way by the DM – no royal experts, no “palace source,” no unnamed friend. When a source pops up, it’s “his words still stand” which is basically “no comment “. The rest is rehashing the past and the obligatory digs at Harry. And the royal commentators at the end are so vague that it’s not clear what they’re talking about, as if the quotes were lifted from a different article. “William was dismayed at the time,” what does that even mean? Which time, and about what? The whole thing looks made up.
Burger King thought the public would be aghast at what Martin Bashir did, and support his “never air it again” proclamation. He really thinks he is still the sympathetic little darling motherless young boy that the world will swarm around to protect. Sure, what Bashir did was wrong, but welcome to the real world where journalists are slimy, William. It must show the depth of his ignorance in digging in deep with sources like Wooten and the Sun and the Fail, thinking they are on the up and up in their deals with him and that Bashir is the lone wolf bad actor.
The Telegraph is tweeting this story but the comments are all, “the infidelity happened dude. What are you talking about?”
Diana’s own words from her Dec. 1995 note:
Diana’s letter, dated a few days before Christmas in 1995, said: “Martin Bashir did not show me any documents, nor give me any information that I was not previously aware of.
“I consented to the interview on Panorama without any undue pressure and have no regrets concerning the matter.”
There is an image of the note itself in the article.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/diana-letter-no-regrets-martin-bashir-panorama-interview-b936355.html
To me, the palaces are more upset that Diana talked about the Firm and grey men. That’s the narrative they want people to think is false. The transcript is out there- all sorts of other little nuggets. Heck, the palace really did not care about the affairs. It’s the other stuff.
Thanks for the link to that article. Never seen it before. William worrying about his mother while also using Meghan’s dad against her is some sh*t. I have no sympathy for him anymore because he’s not a good person.
@Harper, I think he’s right about the first part — I’m definitely aghast at what Bashir did to secure the interview. It was so cruel in its deception. And I’d think most decent people, and certainly all of us here, agree.
But the interview itself is still an important one, and the BBC is seriously never going to air it again because her petulant son doesn’t want them to? For Christ’s sake.
That interview was a, if not THE, turning point which made Diana the Diana we think of now, imo. It completely changed the game, and the world saw she was willing to tell the truth even though it must have been terrifying.
And the fact that he is truly too dim to see that this is just *how these people operate*, all of them…has he forgotten about the phone hacking? Bashir wasn’t involved in that, and Piers Morgan was. So even now that Piers is anti-Meghan, is he under the impression that he’s a trustworthy confidante?? Does he think Dan Wooten is a real friend? I like the way you phrased it, about Bashir being the lone bad actor. It’s an idiotic POV and Billy is going to get a wake-up call and soon.
PWT is just furious that his latest attempts at gaslighting (of Diana, calling her paranoid and hinting that she was mentally unstable) are about to be uncovered. He truly thinks he’s king of PR (hence the bloody stupid story yesterday about PWT and Wiglets returning from a longhaul destination the day after they left and the day before the children’s halfterm). Can’t wait for the latest serving of egg to land on Humpty Dumpty’s face.
Incidentally – help me out, CBers – isn’t his private Secretary someone who came directly from No10 Downing Street? I ask this because our utter pillock of a Chancellor announced today during the Budget that the ‘first 1000 days’ ‘the early years’, are the most important in a child’s life (as if he was making an amazing revelation). I’m wondering how much synergy there is between the Tory government and PWT/Kkkate; seems rather strange that Sunak just happened to bring up early years unless Kkkate had something to do with it, given that a) he cut the Universal Credit uplift, leaving hundreds of thousands of children in poverty b) his government shut SureStart centres, designed to give poorer children a better start and c) the Tories’ treatment of children’s early years, mental health and schooling has been scandalous. Any thoughts? Do all roads lead to PWT and Jason Knauf?
I’m not awake enough to speak intelligently enough on this subject, but I will say that everything you said is correct, Andrew’s Nemesis. William’s new press secretary is William Hague, straight from the Tory government.
Hague is actually chairman of the Royal Foundation under the auspices of the Cambridges. William’s new private secretary is David Cameron’s former spokes-weasel Jean-Christophe Gray.
And yes @Andrew’s Nemesis, all roads do lead to PWT and Knauf, including the continued Meghan-bashing. What exactly has Jason been doing since his resignation at the end of the year was announced? He’s gone completely doggo but we all know he’s pulling strings behind the scenes running the Sussex Smear campaign.
@Jaded, again I feel like this is probably a stupid question (I’m just a dim American after all!), but there seems to be SO MUCH talk about/pressure on the royals to be politically neutral, to never so much as veer too close to even saying anything that could *possibly* be construed as supporting a particular party or giving their personal opinion on any given political issue — but the HEIR is allowed to hire all of these former government employees, who are most decidedly NOT neutral?!
It looks like the equivalent of hiring all of the racist, criminal dumbfcks who served in Trump’s administration, and then proclaiming you’re politically neutral?? It’s objectively impossible.
@Lorelei – Not a stupid question, and you are most certainly not a dim American! I enjoy your well-informed posts! And you’re not wrong — the BRF does align itself with conservative, right-leaning ex-government senior employees; usually rich, white, older and politically connected men (Jason Knauf appears to be the one that doesn’t really fit the profile but he’s American, young, greedy and thirsty and has shown he will sell his soul to the devil if it means getting ahead). There’s really no difference in the scandalous levels of hypocrisy and favoritism in Trump’s world and the monarchy.
Andrews nemesis,,,,👌👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼you are 💯percent right.
@ Andrew’s Nemesis, I think that your prediction of egg on face is certainly spot on!! As for the placement of William Hague is quite suspect as to how he was considered unbiased and qualified. Hague’s placement should be labeled as political influences/access for PWT, and unethical.
The fact that William and Harry have different views on the interview is just one indication that tells me that they haven’t been close for a very long time. I think it’s incredulous that William believes that the interview played any part in the breakdown of his parents marriage. It was a result of the breakdown of it and as many have said, Diana wanted to speak and if weren’t Bashir it would have been somebody else. People forget that at that time Diana was being bashed in the press on a regular basis. She felt she had to get her side of the story out. Just like Harry and Meghan felt they needed to do the Oprah interview. I can’t wait for the outrage from KP and CH when the new season comes out. It’s going to be glorious.
The marriage was OVER by the time Diana did the interview. Is William echoing what his Daddy is saying or something? The marriage was more or less over ca. 1985. The Morton book was already out three years before Diana’s interview. Charles over a year before Diana’s interview, named Camilla as the other woman, and told his biographer he Never Loved Diana. He was seen on a vacation with Camilla. He and Diana were OVER. ALso Diana was serious after the the separation, with Dr Khan. She and Charles were over and done and it still would have been finished if there had been no interview. Charles and Diana could not be in the same room by then, Charles was seen by Jephson publicly putting down Diana. William probably is trying and trying to spin this, forgetting that there have already been numerous biographies about the Wales’ and both made statements loud and clear about the marriage.
Yeah, it’s weird. I’m sure the part about the affair is embarrassing but I don’t think thats why he is calling her paranoid. It seems to be the parts about how she felt alone and unsupported in the family/firm that bothers him the most. He does not want people making connections between Diana and Meghan.
And AGAIN…the fact that William keeps talking about the interview is only going to make people who’ve never seen it want to seek it out, out of morbid curiosity. IDK if it’s on YouTube or not (and if it is, *how dare* W&K have a YouTube channel, right?!) but I’m sure it’s available somewhere, and long clips of it are in tons of documentaries. Anyone who is determined to find it will. He should SHUT UP about it if he wants everyone to ignore it 😣
Transcripts of the interview are on the Internet. William cannot make it go away.
@Tessa. I think Charles never loved Diana and he said that even before he married her— during the engagement interview he weirdly said “whatever love means…”
is it so hard to leave her to rest in peace? if it was your mother would you be ok with it? My mother just died and if someone was using her videos for profit i would be pissed and want their heads on a platter.
I’m sorry about your loss.
This is a series based on historical events and so its going to cover certain historical events, some more than others. In the story its telling, the Bashir interview is a big deal. It’s going to be part of this.
This concern about the Crown would be valid if the Palace was against the series from the start. They weren’t because it made the Royal Family and the Queen look good. Now they’re against it because it makes them look like the dysfunctional and out of step family they are.
I agree in a way. I’m sorry I know William is disliked here but he is a human and Diana was his mother. He is allowed complicated feelings about this interview that we don’t agree with. We are not her children. He is and this had consequences for his real life.
But, unfortunately for him, live by the sward, die by the sward. He and his family are public figures so his life and his moms life are up for public consumption.
They doesn’t mean he can’t have feelings about it.
The Crown has been dramatizing Diana’s life and entrance into the royal family but the Panorama interview is the thing that has William upset and frustrated? What about the dramatizations of Charles being jealous and screaming at Diana? What about the representation of Charles and Camilla sneaking around while married to Diana? William’s feelings are highly selective and it’s quite a point of curiosity that the Panorama interview is what triggers him the most.
Lady Diana wanted the public to know what the royal family did to her especially charles.
Why on earth should William be against his mothers wish?he branded his mother “paranoid “,the same word charles and Camilla used to qualify Diana.
@Harper It seemed to me the whole family was upset by the whole Diana story line. I don’t think it’s correct to say it’s just the interview.
Again, I don’t think their feeling should stop any art being made about them. I’m just think it’s totally intellectually dishonest to be surprised or look down on him for having emotions about this whole thing. He is a human and this is his family.
@edith because he’s a human being with complicated feelings about the past that sometimes is in conflict with his family members…? Like literally ever single person on Earth whether we like them or not.
@Stripe, I agree there were and are consequences for William’s life because of this interview and continued discussion of this interview. One reason I don’t particularly feel sympathetic to William is the interview pulls back the curtain on the terrible behaviour of the royal family/the firm/William himself. And I feel sympathetic to Harry & Meghan because it lends truth to their testimony of the terrible abuse they were subject to.
@one of the Mary’s
I totally agree about H&M. Also I feel the needs to say that I’ve had my own fun poking at William when he’s allegedly in his feelings about other things..I by no means think he’s perfect nor am I on his side most of the time.
I just am able to hold sympathy for him when it comes to his mother and all of the drama/trauma that came with his childhood.
I can have sympathy for him for the trauma of his mother’s death and all that came before it.
But this is unfortunately part of the deal, right? Your life plays out in the public eye and its part of history and certain things like the War of the Wales is going to be replayed over and over again.
and the only reason the “whole family” was upset over the Diana storyline is because it makes the Windsors look awful and reminds a whole new generation of how horrible they were to diana.
These things happened and if we want to explain why the royal family is in the position its in today, we have to talk about the Bashir interview.
And yes, its worth noting that the royals LOVED the Crown when it made them look good. They loved when it reminded people of how young Elizabeth was, of how she was thrown into this role at such a young age, at how handsome Phillip was, etc. It’s only now that they look bad that the royals are worried about “capitalizing on Diana’s death.”
@Becks it’s absolutely part of the deal I totally agree. And I agree Diana was treated terribly, and that the BRF was fine with the crown when it was painting them in a better light..but to be fair, wouldn’t we all? Ha!
I guess where I veer from most of the commenters here is I just don’t see the need to make William the villain in this instance or to be dismissive of his emotions around it.
I know we don’t like him here but I try to remember he grew up in a completely emotionally f*cked family and situation and for that they all (blood and married in) have my sympathy.
William also cannot and should not try to “censor” what his mother said. He is not “custodian” that can spin what she said. I think William can talk about her and so can Harry but what I object to is his tactlessly using the word “paranoid” about Diana. That I find totally objectionable. It is as if William and Charles talked things over and said they would “support each other.” and the support perhaps would be William putting a spin about what his mother said, implying that she did not mean what she said Of course she did, she spoke up about the reality and of course hit too close to home.
I have sympathy for the trauma William must have gone through because of the death of his mother, and his parents divorce previous to that. No doubt those circumstances had a major impact on him. But that was 25 years ago at this point, plenty of time for him to chose to deal with those issues and now be considered responsible for his own choices.
I have no sympathy for whatever complicated feelings he may have that lead him to call his mother “paranoid” and “delusional” in that interview. As much as anyone, William knows things Diana said are most likely true, from his own experience. That includes: 1) like his father, he also has had affairs while married – which appearances indicate had a negative impact on his own wife; 2) as a member of the RF, he knows perfectly well how the grey men operate, and has almost certainly done his own weaponizing of them against his brother, and particularly, Meghan; and 3) since it appears to have been common knowledge behind the scenes that Meghan was in a very precarious mental state, it should be absolutely no surprise that his own mother, who was even younger and more inexperienced than Meghan during her marriage to Charles, should have been dealing with serious emotional issues.
Much of William’s family is dysfunctional, but he’s had at least two models of a different way to behave – his mother, who was around until he was 15, and most especially, his brother. I’d also throw in Charles, who emotionally may be a dead loss, but at least has significant interests and works hard for projects he develops.
IMO, Will at this point is a 40 year old man who’s chosen to be a dick and a useless sponger. What’s too bad is the other people who’ve likely suffered because of that choice. I’ll reserve my sympathy for them.
I’m sorry for your loss. It does get easier. But a day will never go by where you don’t think of them.
I can only relate that I lost my father months after Diana died and I’m between William and Harry in age. So if someone used a video of my father on his own words for profit… I wouldn’t appreciate it, but I also wouldn’t call my father paranoid and discredit his words and feelings. That would be the hurt and bratty child that hasn’t processed the pain or matured enough to handle the people trying to manipulate my father’s image and control the information he wanted out there.
His mother wanted everyone to know what she went through and to expose the lies the palace was using the media to bash her with. That was why she did the interview.
William uses his mother plenty of times for his own interests whenever he needs good PR. He just wanted her to shut up and take the abuse. Much like what he wants with Harry.
This interview is a part of history now. and the world doesn’t need to cater to one man’s personal embarrassment. If this was my mother I would not do what Wills is doing. I would honor her memory and allow her to continue to defend herself from beyond the grave.
@GoofPuff, GREAT last paragraph! 👏
I think in general the royal family is panicking over Season 5, especially after the H&M interview, and I think they (via the press) are zeroing in on the Bashir interview since he (Bashir) was shady in how he obtained the interview.
But Diana still SAID WHAT SHE SAID. Her words still stand too, PWT.
He truly is his father’s son.
He’s got every right to feel whatever and however he wants to feel about Diana doing the interview and the interview itself but this was going to be dramatised in The Crown no matter what. Peter Morgan was not going to go “Well let’s not recreate an important interview and moment of Diana because William hates it”.
Speaking of William, where is he? Any sightings? If he was still in GB he would surely want to make his presence known, supporting the queen and stuff, you know. The loyal future heir in training, boots on the ground.
W&K went on vaca with the kiddies after grandma was released from the hospital.
oh no no no no. We were told yesterday he was RETURNING from vacation. He’s back in the UK now! They weren’t leaving, they were returning! ergo, he should be out and about everywhere this week.
What’s that? He was leaving? the messy KP attempt at spin didn’t work? He’s not in the UK? You don’t say.
@ Julia K, great point!! Where is the raging, fist clenched, man child and his equally disgusting welfare lazy stalker wife? I guess they must be at the country home given that they enjoyed a holiday of one day!!
Such an utter disgusting and hypocrite of all manners regarding being the FFK!! PWT thinks that his outrage and gaslighting his own mother is a stance that he finds as a redeeming quality in a man. PWT is angry that his outrage over the fact that The Crown is willing to bring us back to the moment when we were able to view the interview again. Our feelings about how awful Chaz was as a husband, and the treatment that Diana experienced at the hands of everyone in The Royal family, will remind us of the terrible daily life that Diana experienced each and every day.
Maybe PWT should use his energy to do actual work instead of maintaining his campaign of hatred against his brother, his SIL and his father. No matter how you slice it, PWT is an awful human being that relies on destroying everyone around him. His own insecurities, jealousy, unhappiness and his unhinged attitude of being a man that he isn’t, is on full display every day.
Laziness is not the reason that the majority of people are on Welfare.
Bothsidesnow, That’s a question I keep having about the RF in general, but William and Kate in particular: why are you spending all your time and energy and PR reach on defense all the time rather than on offense? He wants so many things repressed, never spoken about: his affairs, his crumbling marriage, his private jet and helicopter usage, his vacations and movements, anything to do with his mother and her marriage to his father and treatment by the family and interview, anything to do with Harry and his work and his relationship or lack thereof with the family, anything to do with Meghan at all. He wants to make the Royal family and the Royal institution look good and admirable, but rather than just *do* good and admirable things often that would get reported on instead of all the things he doesn’t want reported on, he spends so much energy trying to get everyone to stop talking about the things that make him mad. And the things that make him mad wouldn’t even be threatening to him if he was ever actually working and doing those positive things that would make people connect with him.
If KP is behind the anti-Meghan paid trolls and Twitter hate campaign, he’s literally spending what must amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds on trying to turn the world against his sister in law. How much time and stress and coordination must be put into secretly running a world-wide media manipulation scheme? And that’s just about Meghan, one of the many, many people/things that he’s trying to get people to ignore/turn on.
The press and the people need content. You can’t repress all the content without replacing it with something else. You can’t have basically all the articles written about you being about how mad you are about such and such and how you hope no one will ever mention it ever again. His media message is negative and reactive. There’s never any positive action just for the sake of positive action. Sometimes there’s some kind of action, but it’s always in response to something someone else did first. He never just works or does something (like actually doing an action, as opposed to just having fluff pieces written that passively comment on his apparently hidden wonderful qualities) that would make himself and the royals look good. He just tries to fight the things that make him look bad, and even if he were 100% successful in repressing all the things that make him look bad, that would still just lead to people feeling a net neutral/nothing about him because he’s not doing anything actively positive and helpful consistently that would make people like him or think that he’s genuinely an asset to the UK. All of his “good PR” and the “positive” feelings people have about the Cambridges are based on those same people’s negative feelings for someone else. They “like” the Cambridges because they are the opposite of the Sussexes, but if there were no hate for the Sussexes, there would be no positive feelings for the Cambridges.
It seems like such a stupid strategy to spend all your time trying to suppress what you consider negative/unflattering stories or competition without following that up even a little bit with active examples of why people should like you for you. It’s like they have only have so many PR “spoons” and they’re spending them all on getting the press to *not* write about certain things. But then what are people going to read about you? Which is why so much of the “news” about the Cambridges is just Ma Middleton saying vague things on repeat like “Kate is coming into her own and finding her voice, William is ready to be King because he’s elegant and a statesman.” That’s a nothing article. But all of their spoons were spent on repressing bad stories, they had no spoons left to actually work and create positive, active content (like projects, like charity fundraisers or initiatives, like picking up new patronages) for the press to cover and people to engage with.
As her son, he has every right to feel however he wants to feel about how they depict her mother’s life. The money being made on the back of exploiting Diana’s legacy and her traumas is unsettling. It’s just dissapointing that he’s more concerned about discrediting her actual words, rather than condemning the hyper-commercialization of her image.
He has no trouble capitalizing on his mother, “Granny Diana.”
Yes when one is showing photos of the grandkids Mother’s Day cards to Granny Diana to the public, any talk of exploitation needs to be shut down.
Or when Kate cosplays his dead mother every chance she gets.
100 percent agree with you
William plays the Diana card IMO when it suits him. Besides which Diana had two sons, Harry has equal rights to call the shots and make his opinions known.
pointing the finger at netflix is so ridiculous. if anyone in the uk press was even 1% a real journalist they’d point out that the crown is a british made production, made by Peter Morgan, and produced by one guy with a CBE, and another with an OBE. If they were actually offended, the royal family could take away their titles or ask them to stop, but they obviously won’t because this is all ridiculous and just a way for the press to yell at harry and meghan.
“I hope he’s incandescent with rage at himself”
Lol, Kaiser, I love that line. But it’s true. William is working with the BBC and they’re responsible for the interview, not Netflix. The absurdity of all of this. Between this and the “returning trip”narrative, it’s just absurd theater.
The Crown is going to cover her Panorama interview because no matter what William bleats incandescently or how the press over-emphasizes Martin Bashir’s shady methodology, Diana told her truth- and it’s still valid.
And aside from calling out Charles, Diana is also the first to have ever called attention to the infrastructure of the Palace “grey men.” They are an insidious, invisible, sycophantic, out-of-touch, and gatekeeping culture all on their own, and they probably hate her interview as much as Charles did and William does now.
I hope The Crown rips them all to shreds. I’m so sick of how these entitled people leverage lies in press cycles. (And wherever she is, even Diana would be SMDH at William.)
To be honest, I also wish Netflix, along with everyone else, would leave Diana the hell alone. It’s getting to be ghoulish. And full disclosure, I’m team H and M all the way.
How is it ghoulish when they cover Diana in the Crown but not anyone else?
Many others are dead now, take QE sister. She didn’t come off great, but we never heard about how it was ghoulish to cover her cheating, drinking, partying life prior to her death.
So I’m just curious, is it that only Bill owns his mom’s legacy? I just don’t see how that idea would honor Diana. She wanted to make her own legacy and she did, with her actions and her words.
@ Nicki & @ mariahlee, how can you both be critical of The Crown covering the details of Diana’s life with the Royal family? They are not exploiting her, Diana is part of the history of the Royal family. Diana spoke out about the dynamics of her marriage and her treatment by the family but Netflix is supposed to skip over her entire existence? If anyone is exploiting Diana, it’s PWT!! Not only does he exploit her, he publicly discredited his mother’s feelings of delusion and paranoia!! PWT has no right to discredit her feelings!! PWT has no right to gaslight his own mother!! PWT must also stop exploiting her as he, and his stalker wife, recently posted Mother’s at cards to Diana, which had never been done before!!
Will treated his late mother with total disrespect. IMO. He cannot make that Bashir interview go away. It’s already been used as references in several books about Diana and Charles.
The more that’s revealed to a younger generation via shows like The Crown about how horribly Diana was treated the better. She drew the curtain back on a truly evil, manipulative, tone-deaf and useless family that did its best to crush her, and she fought back. She has a well-deserved place in history for what she accomplished despite The Firm and The Family trying to scrub it out.
Diana is historical figure and as such has to be covered in the series showing the recent history, especially the recent history of Windsors. She is even greater than Windsors, her influence and image spreaded far further the just UK. She belongs to the world, to the history not less than the Queen, maybe be more in some aspects.
She isn’t just Mom of William. TOB tries to usurp her legacy, to gaslight the memory of her. Don’t let him fool you about his feelings about Diana. If he had felt a bit of love and respect for her, he wouldn’t chose the wife who is complete opposite of Diana.
Charles did the Dimbleby interview well before Diana spoke to Bashir so they need to stop pretending that Bashir is the bad guy here. Diana was always going to speak to someone and if not Bashir then someone else.
Besides this interview is now a historical fact and any show like the Crown will of course cover it. William cannot control the media even though he tries. And you cannot play the mourning child decades later and especially after calling your mother paranoid. William just doesn’t like that someone else is using Diana’s story in a way that doesn’t benefit him.
I hope Charles sees the reaction to Billy’s rants and understands that he needs to remain quiet about all of this. Going after a factionalized tv show is not a good look. Especially not one that has won Emmys every year.
I wish Netflix would announce that theyre also gonna cover the Charles/Dimbleby interview. That should give all the rotarat talking heads something to clutch their pearls abt.
And Charles blamed the courtiers instead of himself for his announcing to the world he had an affair with Mrs Parker Bowles. He never did take any responsibility for it as far as I know.
Poor little Willy is about to learn that he can’t always get what he gets incandescent with rage for. SUCK IT UP BALDY.
Someone please clarify this to me because I get confused everytime there is a William related post: I read several people saying he was Diana’s confidante. Is that true?
Because if it is, then I don’t get why everyone dismiss his statements about how his mother felt at the time. Unlike us, he knew first hand what was happening.
He was not his mothers confident, the royal reporters invented that in attempt to rewrite history.
Ok, it makes more sense.
He was one of Diana’s confidants, if you believe what her friends were saying since mid 2000s.
I don’t think it’s a conspiracy by royal reporters to whitewash history. That’s always been a consistent narrative around Diana’s parenting skills. That she treated her children as her friends at times, and William was older than Harry so she confided in him more.
Diana clearly said that she would tell William ahead of time something that would be in the news (e.g. Charles saying he did not love Diana to his biographer) and go to his school. Diana critics have this image of Diana as Miss Havisham person, indoctrinating her son. Diana worked and did appearances, she also had a social life, with her friends and she was dating and serious about Dr. Khan. William was also going to school and away much of the time. If anything, Diana was less coddling of Will than Charles was. She told William he had to earn allowance money by washing cars at royal residence and he had to make his bed and pick up after himself. She did not want him waited on hand and foot by servants.
My mom used to warn me that a person wrapped up in themselves makes a very small package.
I remember that every time I see William’s balled fists and sulky face. One day he may indeed be king but will he ever grow up?
There are quotes from Diana herself saying William was her confident. They go back to before her death. So no, nobody is rewriting history except you trying to say you know more about her than her son and the one who gave her tissues while she was crying knows.
Where are the quotes from Diana herself saying William was her confidant? From Diana herself. Not Robert Jobson(*cough* full of sh*t), who claimed in his 2006 book that Diana’s friends told him that she considered William her soulmate & closest confidant. If the friends are not willing to be named…….then they are imaginary. Not a royal rata or someone else making that claim in a book after her death. But, Diana herself.
William was SON not soulmate. Jobson is no friend of Diana, Harry or Meghan. Diana loved both her sons. Diana I think coddled him less than Charles did, if anything.
@Tessa, I agree. Robert Jobson (along with the others have made some pretty fantastical claims after her death) is pretty repugnant for even trying to claim a friend of Diana’s said that. I don’t believe Diana said that.
I was asking for a source from Diana herself – not some bs put out by a royal rota liar or others who’ve made shit up before & after her death.
Diana loved her sons equally, she did not single out William as a “soulmate.” She talked publicly of both of them and never used the word “soulmate.” I recall that Seward would say Diana “said” this or that after she died. And Diana was not around to deny it. Jobson was the one who claimed Harry “said” What Meghan wants Meghan gets. and this has been carried on social media as absolute fact when Jobson wrote this in his biography of Charles. I doubt Harry said it.
Kale, you read a lot of Robert jobson fantasy book. Diana never said such thing at least not in public. What Diana clearly said was that “William belongs to the firm (palace)and that Harry belongs to her ” you people continue underating Harry, maybe Harry knows more than William about their mother because he was closer to Diana, he was smaller but he has proved to be Smarter than William. Have you people ever questioned why Harry is so annoyed with the firm and has always wanted to leave?maybe Harry knows something that the rest of us dont know.
Right @ Edith, pretty sure Harry knows lots of things we don’t know-especially how he was scapegoated for William. William was angry at his mother in his preteen/early teen years before she died. Apparently his Dad being a cheater was okay? He’s been an angry, immature young man for a long time.
Kale, still waiting for an actual Diana quote about William being her confidant. Not one sourced by Jobson or others after her death. ?????
Wow a lot of new commenters going with variations of spelling “confidant.”
Your point is irrelevant. Diana’s biggest “confidant” was… HERSELF. you know, the person actually talking in the interview. So no, Bill doesn’t know more about Diana’s feelings than Diana did.
Diana wanted to get her side out I doubt she asked for Will’s permission.
Exactly.
Oh Withtheamerican sorry for spelling a word incorrectly when English is not your first language. It surely invalidates my point. I stand corrected and think you’re right and your opinion is the only valuable one because you know how to spell a word correctly.
Hey Kale! You seem like the kind of person who gets upset about Christmas being canceled when Starbucks doesn’t cater to your whims.
Also, aside from your inability to spell, my point stands: Diana spoke her own words, William isn’t the gatekeeper to her feelings. She was the gatekeeper.
Am I the only one that get a kick out the pics?
Lol, I love this photo too. He looks like both 1) a toddler ready to throw a tantrum and 2) a man-child ready to Hulk smash.
Imagine what his children think of him when his face is all screwed up like that. Kate’s probably used to it, one of the trade-offs she’s made to insure her future.
Disrespectful to his own mother, Will is trying to erase history and spin it his way.
One thing bothers me. It always seems to come up by some who agree with William, is that Diana “regretted the interview.” I don’t recall Diana ever saying publicly she regretted it. This is hearsay, she said to ____ who told_____. I don’t think personally Diana had any regrets at all.
@Tessa, under comments #7 above is a link to the article/image that refutes that Diana regretted it or was influenced by Bashir. Agree again. Diana had no regrets doing the interview.
Shame of Willie, he has well and truly hit a new low but gaslighting his own dead mother. I have a feeling even he probably knows this is a low he didn’t want to stoop to but here we are. Guess that’s what comes with being trapped.
The interview is so important to history because It was one of the few times Diana actually got to have her say using her own words. Willie wants to take that away from her, because he knows he has become exactly like one of the men that made his mothers life hell. He has been windsornized but in the worst way possible. He has Charles petty insecurity with Andrews ego and self entitlement.
Harry is proud of his mother, William only pretends to be when he wants good publicity. William made sure to not marry someone like his mother for a reason, she had qualities that he doesn’t agree with.
That’s it in a nutshell, February-Pisces! I remember reading years ago that William essentially flipped out after Diana spoke to Bashir, and I believe that he still sees the entire interview as the ultimate betrayal. William is a lot of things, but the main thread that I’ve always seen in his life is his obsession with privacy. I think Harry has come to terms with the fact that people are always going to take his picture and be interested in his life, and I think that’s why he married Meghan in the end. He realized he needed a polished and sophisticated wife, and when he met Meghan and they clicked, he jumped at his chance.
Somebody more eloquent than I am said that Harry looks at Diana as an example, while William views her life as a cautionary tale. Which is why he sees red whenever this interview is mentioned. And which explains his long absences from the scene, his general laziness, how disgruntled he always seems, and why the rest of the family is so obviously afraid of him. I think this perspective also explains his choice of Kate, since she’s the anti-Diana in nearly every possible way. Even if W/K divorce, it seems unlikely that Kate will ever speak out publicly against the royal family. I think William and Kate want the power and the upper class posh lifestyle, but I also believe they decided early-on to really lean into the “boring, middle-class” thing. And now that it’s time for them to add a little sparkle and authenticity to their public personas, they have no idea what they’re supposed to do. I remember they shoveled the lie that William was “shy,” but now I think he’s just sullen. And when I think back on William, what’s notable are the times when he refused to “play the game” with the royal family.
I remember there was some birthday party of his (18th, maybe?), that was supposed to happen at Windsor Castle, but he decided not to attend. Then there’s that 20 year period when Harry was essentially the star of the show while William did very little. I was just thinking the other day about how Harry spoke at the Olympics in 2012 (I think it was the closing ceremonies?), and NOT the future King. Why not? Did we ever get a good explanation?
Yes, I’ve read here in comments that William was very angry and embarrassed about Diana’s interview when it came out. But was he not feeling the same about Charles’ interview, when he admitted to an affair? Does the media just not report about his reaction to Charles’ interview. I really hope it’s included in The crown or at least referenced. I wonder if William was reacting more to the tabloids misogyny and internalizing it, as in how dare Diana say this but forgetting Charles said it first.
I think William wants to not repeat the same mistakes as his parents, but he’s going about it in the complete opposite way. He seems to view Diana as the problem and more importantly her reaction to Charles being unfaithful, and not Charles. His relationship with Charles is clearly problematic and his issues with him run deep, but him cheating on his mother doesn’t seem to be one of them, which is weird.
I think if Willie wanted to not repeat his parents mistakes, he would have found a woman he genuinely loved who he would never cheat on. Instead he found a doormat who would put up with anything to be royal, and wouldn’t kick up a fuss about cheating.