Even by the ridiculous standards of BBC it seems absurd for them to air a documentary in two parts about briefing wars between Royal Family members while still glowing from Martin Bashir.
And how counter-productive and foolish of the Corporation to refuse to let the Palace see tonight’s opening instalment, titled the Princess And The Press, before it is screened.
Is it any wonder that courtiers are thinking ‘very carefully’ about future projects with the BBC where cooperation is essential, with next year’s Platinum Jubilee tributes to the Queen at the very top of the list?
While it’s unusual for three royal houses, Prince William, Prince Harry, and Queen Elizabeth, to join forces in threat of a boycott of the national broadcaster of Canada, it shows the stakes. This shows a collective sense of disgust at the programme.
Richard Kay writes that it is very unusual for the three royal families to come together in an attempt to boycott our national broadcaster.
The BBC refused to let the Palace see tonight’s opening instalment, titled the Princess And The Press writes Richard Kay
A veil of secrecy has been drawn around the content of the programme, which has been written and is presented by the ambitious Amol Rajan, a self-declared republican who once labelled the monarchy as ‘absurd’ and the media as a ‘propaganda outlet’ for the Royal Family. So far, so predictable.
Although everyone can agree with the views of the BBC’s star presenter the BBC could have provoked an unexpected Palace reaction by refusing to give it the right of reply.
It is quite true that the Palace argues it’s impossible to comment on the program without actually seeing it or understanding its claims in depth.
Officials are particularly concerned by reports, revealed in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday, that the film suggests William and his brother – or advisers working for them – ‘briefed against each other’ to the media in the damaging fall-out surrounding Harry and Meghan’s acrimonious exit from royal life.
This is why aides insist that the contrary of what the truth means. They argue that, in fact, there was a refusal to be dragged into a public war of words between the brothers, despite the provocation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s partial Oprah Winfrey interview and the regular ‘unhelpful’ interventions of the couple’s friends.
Claims that William and his staff had leaked a story about Harry’s mental welfare were cut from a prime time ITV documentary hours before it was due to be broadcast writes Richard Kay
Richard Kay writes that the Corporation and monarchy have had a difficult relationship over the years. (Pictured: Princess Eugenie with Jack Brooksbank).
When all this is set against the issues of trust exposed by Lord Dyson’s investigation into how Martin Bashir tricked Princess Diana into giving her notorious 1995 Panorama interview, the timing of this latest programme looks not just awful but grotesque. The BBC’s lack of sensitivity to all that was left from that episode makes it seem extraordinary.
Although the relations between the Corporation’s monarchy and its Corporation have been difficult over time, the simmering tensions around Bashir have led to it reaching a toxic new depth.
Prince William was outspoken in his attack on both the deceitful behaviour of the Panorama reporter and the BBC’s shameful cover-up of his activities.
He said his mother ‘was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions’.
Bashir is not over.
The broadcaster has paid around £750,000 to former graphic designer Matt Wiessler – made a scapegoat in the scandal after he raised concerns with his bosses at the BBC that fake bank statements Bashir had asked him to mock up had been used to secure the Diana interview – and other claims for compensation are in the pipeline.
Pictured – Zara, the granddaughter of The Queen
Martin Bashir, BBC reporter interviewing Princess Diana 1995
All this being said, the BBC must have realised that such a provocative programme wouldn’t trigger an immediate reaction from Buckingham Palace and other royal households.
As the Mail on Sunday reported, royal sources have condemned the documentary as ‘tittle-tattle’.
And last night there was growing nervousness at the BBC despite its claim that the film will provide ‘context’ for William and Harry’s relationship with the media.
‘There has been anxiety within the hierarchy about the film for some time and it is the reason why, when it comes to what it contains, they have been playing things so very close to their chest,’ says a Corporation figure. ‘At the same time you do wonder if they have thought things through as to how it is likely to be received.’
The briefing war is an example of this. It is not my understanding that any suggestion that the brothers allowed aides in order to plant smears about each other will be vigorously rejected.
Amol Rajan, who will present The Princes of the Press and The Press
Previous claims that suggested William and his staff had leaked a story about Harry’s mental welfare, for example, were cut from a prime time ITV documentary hours before it was due to be broadcast in July.
Rajan started work on his project before the Covid-19 pandemic. He had interviewed journalists regularly reporting on the Royal Family.
Questions they were asked included whether they become ‘too close’ to the royals, whether the relationship between the Press and the royals is ‘sycophantic’ and how stories about the Royal Family are presented or ‘spun’.
Whatever tonight’s programme and next week’s second part contain, one thing is certain: the Palace’s intervention has guaranteed that it will have a much larger audience than its BBC2 slot might originally have generated.