Princess Diana's one decision changed everything

Diana - Princes William and Harry's mother - is still alive in many of her admirers' memory for her philanthropic work, charitable efforts and heart-melting nature.

She taught the world a lesson on humanity, equality and care by helping those in need, particularly children and individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.

The late Princess truly introduced a compassionate and empathetic face of the royal family to the world, leaving a lasting legacy with her gentle deeds.

However, her former aide Patrick Jephson explained how her haven turned to hell, revealing a bitter truth about his time with the People's Princess.

He alleged Martin Bashir’s deception drove a sudden wedge between him and Diana, a shift he only understood decades later.

Diana's former private secretary tells People it's "chilling" to learn the full background, claiming, 'the manipulation that pushed Princess Diana toward her 1995 Panorama interview also drove her to shut out the person best placed to protect her.'

“It is chilling to re-run those events and feel that Diana was seeing me as the enemy within,” he told the outlet.

In this week's cover story, he claimed: “I had no understanding of what had changed.”

Now, he came to learn what drove a wedge between him and the Princess, explaining how Bashir "told her I was betraying her." 

“It was horrifying. I now understand the lengths he was prepared to go to," Jephson continues.

"It was chilling, creepy and cruel. But at the same time, thanks to Andy, I now understand what went wrong and why. For 25 years, I never understood what went wrong, and whether it was my fault.”

Diana was first drawn into Bashir’s orbit through her brother, Charles Spencer — who had also been deceived.

Jephson, was reportedly a stabilising force — a source of calm, measured advice during some of the most turbulent periods of her life.

But as detailed in investigative journalist Andy Webb’s new book, 'Dianarama: Deception, Entrapment, Cover-Up—The Betrayal of Princess Diana,' BBC journalist Martin Bashir allegedly convinced her that Jephson and other loyal aides were secretly spying on her.

Believing she had been betrayed from within, Diana withdrew from the very people who could have guided her. She made the momentous decision to proceed with the bombshell interview in absolute secrecy.

A 2021 independent inquiry led by U.K. senior judge Lord Dyson later confirmed what Diana never knew: journalist Martin Bashir had used forged documents to manipulate her. In a settlement in 2022, the BBC paid damages to Patrick Jephson.

“It would have been a totally different kind of interview and one of which, I like to think, I would have been able to play a full part, with the advice and consultation that I could have brought to bear,” Jephson says. “It was my job.”

A month after her explosive interview aired in November 1995, Queen Elizabeth II advised to Charles and Diana, who had been separated since 1992, to proceed with a divorce.

Diana tied the knot with Charles at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981, but their marriage ended in divorce on August 28, 1996.

The Princess left millions of her fans crying with her sudden death in a tragic car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, just over a year after her divorce.