The BBC has settled a slander case with Princess Diana’s former chauffeur, Stephen Davies, over claims he leaked information about her before her famous Panorama interview. Davies was the Princess’s chauffeur at the time of her TV interview with Martin Bashir in November 1995 but was fired without explanation in March 1996. He sued the BBC after a probe revealed a document from a meeting in September 1995, stating that Diana and her brother were told by Bashir that Davies “feeds Today newspaper… change your chauffeur”. The BBC accepted that the allegation against Davies was and is “wholly false”.
Carter-Ruck, the solicitors for Mr Davies, told a hearing on Tuesday that the corporation had accepted that the “serious and unfounded” allegation had been “fabricated”. It said the BBC had agreed to pay a “sum of compensation” and his legal costs. Davies has said that he was relieved to have been able to clear his name and his professional reputation as a chauffeur. The allegations against him had been repeated in the Netflix series “The Crown”.
Mr Davies had maintained a close professional relationship with the princess throughout the many years he had worked for her and he was given no reason for his sudden termination. He was “tormented” by speculation about what possible reason there could be for the ending of his employment, and was “acutely embarrassed” about his dismissal. It was a matter of “profound regret” to Mr Davies that “as he now knows, the princess believed that he had betrayed her, and he was unable to correct the position before her tragic death”.
The BBC Panorama interview with Diana and Bashir was broadcast on 20 November 1995 and featured her saying, “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”. A subsequent independent inquiry by Lord Dyson in 2021 found that the BBC had covered up Mr Bashir’s “deceitful behaviour.” Diana’s sons, Princes William and Harry, condemned the broadcaster for its treatment of their mother, and the corporation has since vowed not to air the interview again
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