A decision by Channel 4 to broadcast private video recordings of Diana, Princess of Wales, in which she discusses her failing marriage and her love affair with a royal protection officer has been condemned as “exploitative” and “hurtful”.
The princess spoke candidly to her voice coach, Peter Settelen, during a series of meetings at Kensington Palace in 1992-93. He taped them, ostensibly to improve her public speaking technique.
Following the princess’s death in 1997, the tapes found their way into the hands of her butler, Paul Burrell. Earl Spencer fought an unsuccessful legal battle to claim them, but they reverted to Mr Settelen.
He has sold them to Channel 4 for an undisclosed sum and they form the heart of a documentary, Diana: In Her Own Words, to be shown next Sunday.
Friends of the Royal family are said to be aghast that the private tapes will be aired, barely a week after Princes William and Harry paid public tribute to their mother with a film of their own. Critics say the film is “exploitative” and “ghoulish”.
Penny Junor, the royal biographer who has written studies of the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Prince Harry, condemned the decision to screen the tapes. They were broadcast in the US in 2004, but have not been seen since. The BBC bought some of the footage in 2007 but the project was shelved amid claims it would be deemed in bad taste.