BBC Shelves Controversial Documentary That Claims Prince Charles Hired A Spin Doctor After Princess Diana's Death
BBC Two was set to air a controversial documentary that claims to reveal British royal family's alleged attempt to "spin" reaction after Princess Diana's death in a car crash on Aug 31, 1997. BBC has shelved the documentary reportedly after pressure from Prince Charles' legal team. The first part of the documentary was scheduled to be broadcast on Jan. 04, 2015.
The two-part documentary, "Reinventing The Royals," was pulled off from the scheduled Sunday program list after lawyers, who are known to represent the royal family members, intervened, according to Radio Times. The lawyers reportedly wrote to BBC on behalf of Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Meanwhile, Mirror is reporting that BBC's decision to shelve the documentary has been condemned by MPs and campaigners. It has quoted Labour MP Paul Flynn as saying, "The BBC should have held firm. We are not being treated like adults when it comes to the royals." He also added that the national broadcaster has no "right to censor the truth" about "one of the most sophisticated PR operations in the country -- and one we are paying for."
The documentary, which is presented by Steve Hewlett, for the first time features the television interview of Sandy Henney, according to Radio Times' report. Henney was Prince Charles' press secretary at the time of Diana's death. He reportedly served as prince's deputy private secretary from 1997 to 2002,
In an article published in the new edition of Radio Times, Hewlett has revealed some details about the interview. Henney said in the interview that the atmosphere at the time of Princess Diana's death was "really anti-monarchy" and he was "really worried about where it was going to go."
According to Henney's article in Radio Times, Prince Charles hired Mark Bolland from the Press Complaints Commission. He was supposed to be the "spin doctor." He had two clear objectives: "repair his client's battered image" and improve the public image of Camilla Parker Bowles.
BBC has released a brief statement on the issue: "The BBC is delaying the broadcast of the documentary "Reinventing The Royals," due to be shown on BBC Two on January 4, until later in the New Year while a number of issues including the use of archive footage are resolved."