Queen described Princess Diana’s explosive Panorama interview as ‘a frightful thing to do’

The Queen described Princess Diana’s explosive interview on Panorama as a ‘frightful thing’ to have done, a new documentary reveals.

Her Majesty made her feelings clear over lunch with Sir Richard Eyre, former director of the National Theatre, shortly after the 1995 broadcast.

Sir Richard, who was a BBC governor at the time, says: ‘I had lunch with the Queen not long after and she said to me unprompted, ‘How are things at the BBC?’ and I said, ‘Oh well, fine’. And she said, ‘Frightful thing to do, frightful thing that my daughter-in-law did’.’

His comments come in a new Channel 5 documentary called Diana: The Interview That Shocked The World. 

It features key figures involved in the production and broadcast of the original programme, which drew more than 20 million viewers who tuned in to see Diana reveal the secrets of her marriage.

In the new documentary, Sir Richard also remarks on the make-up worn by Diana during her encounter with interviewer Martin Bashir.

He says: ‘It’s like somebody who has been very, very tearful, and then run out of a room and come back ten minutes later having restored their make-up.

‘I think that’s a conscious decision. I think that she presented herself as a victim. The artfulness of the appearance of spontaneity – that’s acting.’

Diana: The Interview That Shocked The World will be broadcast next Sunday at 9pm on Channel 5.