Princess Diana’s pals urge Channel 4 to axe film featuring unseen tapes on her doomed marriage over fears it will hurt Princes William and Harry
Channel 4 bosses have been blasted for causing Princes William and Harry pain by screening “tawdry” tapes of Princess Diana.
The station have been told to axe the film of Diana talking about her doomed marriage.
One of Princess Diana’s closest friends Rosa Monckton hit out after TV chiefs snubbed a plea from Diana’s brother Charles to scrap Sunday’s documentary, based on film of the princess chatting to voice coach Peter Settelen.
Rosa said: “It’s completely inappropriate. How intrusive is this? It doesn’t matter that it was 20-odd years ago.
"Think of the hurt they are causing to her family, to her sons.”
Royal author Ingrid Seward said: “This is wrong. I think Diana is being exploited.
"The programme makers don’t give a toss who they hurt.
“I think it’s remarkable any TV station would stoop that low. It really is lowest common denominator TV.”
Dickie Arbiter, former spokesman for The Queen, said: “The tapes were private. It doesn’t matter if the princess is alive or dead, private should mean private.
“It’s obvious Mr Settelen is making them public for whatever gains he is going to make out of it.
“Selling tapes like this is grubby blood money and tawdry.”
The tapes were recorded in 1992 by one time Coronation Street actor Settelen as he coached Diana in public speaking.
He was also helping her prepare for the famous Panorama interview in which she alluded to Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
In the tapes, Diana admits she and Charles did not have sex for seven years and apparently reveals she fell in love with a bodyguard.
A young Prince William is heard walking into one recording session.
Settelen sold the tapes for £500,000 in 2004 to an American TV channel.
Channel 4 now plans to show them for the first time on British TV in a 90-minute documentary titled Diana: In Her Own Words.
It is due to be screened on Sunday — three weeks before the 20th anniversary of her death.
Ralph Lee, deputy chief creative officer at Channel 4, yesterday defended the decision, saying the tapes were historically important.
He said: “The word that’s been used is that the footage is somehow ghoulish. I don’t think anyone can watch the footage and actually think this footage is ghoulish.
“I think she is self-consciously and clearly taking part in a film process and I don’t think viewers will feel greatly uneasy with that.
“For British viewers to be able to see a candid, relaxed, informal Diana talking about her life and revealing her personal perspective on events that are now familiar to us is remarkable.
“Given that the only filmed interview that we’ve ever seen with her is the Martin Bashir Panorama interview this is a really unique historical archive.
“I think a lot of viewers will feel for the first time that they are really seeing a natural, relaxed and personal Diana.
“I felt I was being given an opportunity for the first time to get to know her.”
Seven of the 12 tapes, 50 hours filmed over 18 months, have been handed to TV bosses. Five are missing. Much of the footage is genuine voice coaching sessions.
Documentary producer Charles Furneaux said Settlelen was “not particularly forthcoming” about the missing tapes.
He added: “He’s reluctant to become part of the story. It was hard work trying to persuade him.”
Ken Wharfe, Diana’s former royal protection officer, who contributed to the documentary, said he warned her about the perils of making the tapes.
He said: “I remember Diana saying to me very joyously, ‘I’ve got this voice coach and he's making a video of it’.
“Alarm bells ring of course. I said ‘who’ll have access to these tapes? Be careful because you are a very high commodity individual, be careful where they might end up’.
“The point is Diana is dead, we are now able to see this footage. I think it’s historically very important in this story.”
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And Patrick Jephson, Diana’s former private secretary, said: “I think it’s a programme that William and Harry should see because I think they will see a side of their mother that they themselves endorse.
“I’m very pleased that Channel 4 have made this documentary.”
Diana never gave permission for the tapes to be made public.
TALE OF THE TAPES
PRINCESS Diana hired former Corrie actor Peter Settelen as a voice coach in 1992 as she wanted to appear more confident when speaking in public.
As she practised at Kensington Palace, she let Settelen set up a camera to record the £50 per hour sessions.
She then spent hour after hour pouring her heart out, revealing intimate detail about her love life and marriage.
Worried courtiers advised her to stop the sessions amid fears Settelen would sell the recordings for “his pension”.
Cops seized some tapes in a 2001 raid on the home of Diana’s butler Paul Burrell. Settelen launched legal action to have them returned and then sold them to US network NBC.
The BBC paid £30,000 in 2007 to use the tapes in a documentary, but never did.
Kevin Sim was the producer and is also behind Channel 4’s programme.
He said: “I believe we’ve got seven tapes. There are more but who knows where they are and what is on them.”
- By Mike Ridley
Settelen, 65, who is estranged from wife Sarah, now lives in a £750,000 house in Twickenham, West London. There was no sign of him there yesterday and the curtains were closed at the house.
His spokesman said: “There has been a great deal of interest in the tapes and a valid debate as to whether or not it was appropriate to allow them to be broadcast 20 years after her death.
“But it is very clear Diana wanted the world to know about the causes of the problems in her marriage.
“Peter was not her priest, doctor, therapist or lawyer.
"Diana was not disclosing bed-pillow confidences and the tapes were not secretly recorded.
“The issues which her concerns raised at the time, are as valid today as they were over 20 years ago, no matter how inconvenient or embarrassing it may be for the Royal Family or the establishment to have to deal with them.”
Settelen appeared in three Corrie episodes and devised the show Through The Keyhole.
Diana’s brother Charles asked Channel 4 not to broadcast the tapes, claiming the contents would distress Princes William and Harry.
The footage includes Diana revealing she went sobbing to The Queen for help during her marriage.
She said the Queen told her: “I don’t know what you should do.”
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SHOULD TAPES BE BROADCAST?
NO - says Penny Junor, writer of The Duchess:
DOES any child, however grown up, want their mother to tell them how often she and their father have sex?
Or how ham-fisted his courting skills had been when they first met? Or how her wedding day was the worst day of her life? I would guess not.
They wouldn’t want to hear it from her in person, and they certainly wouldn’t want to hear it broadcast to the public 20 years after her death.
I don’t doubt it will make compelling television, but at what cost?
YES - says Phil Dampier, author of Diana biography
CHANNEL Four bosses will probably love the controversy surrounding the film as it will increase the viewing figures.
But I don’t think William and Harry have much to worry about and the programme should go ahead.
I saw an advance copy and was surprised how little of the tapes are actually used.
Everything that is used — and a lot more — was first shown on the American TV station NBC in 2004 and everything was reported extensively in our newspapers.