Martin Bashir, the former BBC reporter who deceitfully convinced Princess Diana to sit down for an infamous interview in 1995, says he feels that he cannot be “held responsible” for the impact that the “Panorama” interview had on her. “I never wanted to harm Diana in any way and I don’t believe we did,” he told the Sunday Times. Bashir also claimed that Diana was not upset once the interview had aired, and that the two had remained friends well after. “Everything we did in terms of the interview was as she wanted, from when she wanted to alert the palace, to when it was broadcast, to its contents ... My family and I loved her,” he said.

Bashir had obtained the interview by showing fake documents to Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, who said this week that the 1995 interview negatively affected Diana and that it had forced her to give up her security detail. In response, Bashir said, “I don't feel I can be held responsible for many of the other things that were going on in her life, and the complex issues surrounding those decisions.” “I can understand the motivation [of Earl Spencer's comments] but to channel the tragedy, the difficult relationship between the Royal Family and the media purely on to my shoulders feels a little unreasonable,” he continued.