In 1995 Princess Diana gave an extraordinary TV interview that rocked the Royal Family and astounded the British public. The late Princess of Wales secretly let BBC journalist Martin Bashir into Kensington Palace with a camera crew to film it. While the candid interview was a shocking move for Diana to make, she is believed to have done it for several reasons.

In 1995 Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles had fallen apart and they had been separated for several years.

The Panorama interview she gave was the nail in the coffin for their relationship and prompted the Queen to write to them asking that they divorce.

More than 20 million viewers tuned in to watch the BBC Panorama programme in November 1995, which was the first solo interview Diana had given since her marriage to Prince Charles.

Among the scandalous revelations, Diana made to Martin Bashir was the claim there had been three people in her marriage.

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She blamed Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles for the breakdown of her marriage and openly questioned her estranged husband’s suitability to be king.

The interview seemed to some like a desperate cry for help and caused others to question why Diana had done it.

One of Diana’s close friends has claimed she was egged on to speak out by fellow royal wife, Sarah Ferguson and had believed the interview would focus on her charity work.

Diana’s friend Simone Simmons,was interviewed for the Amazon Prime documentary Diana: The Woman Inside.

Ms Simmons claims Diana called her after she had done the interview and encouraged her to watch.

Royal expert and author Penny Junor told the International Business Tribune that Diana “was very pleased” with what she had done.

She said: “She was very pleased with what she’d done at the time, she thought it was a great performance and she was thrilled.

“She rang up her friends and said, ‘you must watch.’”

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According to Ms Junor Diana had believed the piece would focus on her charity work, however, the interview which aired showed her openly discuss the “three people” her marriage.

Diana also admitted she had an affair with cavalry officer James Hewitt.

Ms Simmons recalled she didn’t hold back with her friend, telling her that she thought she had made a “prat” out of herself.

She asked Diana who encouraged her to give the interview.

Diana reportedly told her it was Fergie (Sarah Ferguson) and another friend.

Once Diana saw the interview, she was reportedly horrified by it and her divorce from Charles was finalised the next year.

The Panorama programme aired just two years before Diana’s tragic death.

She was killed in a car crash alongside boyfriend Dodi Fayed on August 31, 1997.

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