Prince William says Martin Bashir's interview made his parents' relationship worse and hurt countless others.
It comes after a report into the interview, published today, concluded that Bashir acted inappropriately and in serious breach of BBC guidelines.
Former director-general Lord Tony Hall has said he accepts the 1996 BBC inquiry into how Panorama secured its interview with Diana, Princess of Wales "fell well short of what was required" and he was "wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt".
Former director-general Lord Tony Hall has said he accepts the 1996 BBC inquiry into how Panorama secured its interview with Diana, Princess of Wales "fell well short of what was required" and he was "wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt".
Prince William said the interview made a "major contribution to making my parents' relationship worse", adding it has "since hurt countless others".
"But what saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived," he said.
"She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions."
Prince William was left 'devastated' when he watched his mum's Panorama interview as a schoolboy, a royal expert has claimed.
The Panorama interview with Martin Bashir was broadcast a year before Diana and Prince Charles were formally divorced in 1996, though they had separated in 1992.
In the sensational interview in November 1995 Diana admitted committing adultery and being in love with James Hewitt.
She also uttered the infamous line “there were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded” in relation to her husband’s affair with his now wife Camilla.
But according to a friend, Princess Diana was also said to have regretted ever taking part in the now-infamous interview on the BBC programme.
Prince William watched the interview in a master's study at Eton and according to royal biographer Penny Junor, the young Prince was left feeling devastated.
She told The Times: "He was deeply upset, as any child, watching one parent assassinate the integrity of the other, let alone talk about their infidelity, would be.”
The publication reports that 'what Diana had not considered was the effect the interview would have on her children.'
Following Diana's death her friend Rosa Monckton was reported to have said that she had regretted what she had done.
