It was 29 years ago this week that Princess Diana sat down for her controversial BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, and nearly three decades later, the late royal's once-lover, James Hewitt, is speaking out on the journalist's "deception."
Diana's interview—which aired on November 20, 1995—contained numerous bombshells about the royal's life and marriage to Prince Charles, including her affair with Hewitt, who was her horseback riding instructor.
An independent investigation was launched in 2021 after Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, accused Bashir of using unethical methods to persuade Diana to participate in the interview—tactics that Hewitt, 66, told the Sun were "unforgivable."
The resulting report confirmed that the interviewer had used "deceitful behavior" to secure Diana's participation. Specifically, it found that Bashir had forged documents and misrepresented information to both the princess and her brother in order to gain their trust. This included telling Princess Diana that she was being surveilled and making other manipulative claims about the Royal Family.
"I think the chap needs to seriously search his conscience," Hewitt said when discussing Bashir. "To do it by deception is unforgivable and there is very little road back from that."
The former calvary officer in the British Army continued, “I don’t know him personally, but I think any underhandedness—and particularly if it’s taking advantage of someone’s weakness and being a toad—is wrong. It did affect me and it had a huge effect.”
In the jaw-dropping interview, Princess Diana admitted, “Yes, I was in love with him, but I was very let down," referring to Hewitt and their five-year-long affair.
The former polo player told the Sun that the course of his life was impacted by the Panorama special and its resulting backlash. One particularly nasty rumor involved Hewitt being Prince Harry's real father. However, Princess Diana didn't even meet the Army officer until two years after Harry's birth.
When asked why he never got married, Hewitt shared, "I think it’s pretty obvious given my history, and the difficulties thereafter, and having been the most hated person in the world.”
“I do think I’ve missed out on that," he continued. "I would have liked to have had children but there we are, you can’t have everything in life.”
Along with admitting to her relationship with Hewitt—which took place from 1986 to 1991—Princess Diana spoke about her husband's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, famously saying, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
At the end of the day, Hewitt, who is now devoting his life to aid work in Ukraine, said the public should look at the interview with a critical lens.
“I hope people realize that the whole of the program should be seen for what it was—and that was to deceive somebody into saying things and doing things that they may not necessarily have been willing to say had all the facts been known," he concluded.
