Martin Bashir Showed Princess Diana Fake Abortion 'Receipt' for Nanny Ahead of Panorama Interview: Report
Princess Diana was said to have been convinced that the royal nanny had become pregnant by Charles
BBC journalist Martin Bashir allegedly showed Princess Diana a faked abortion "receipt" for Tiggy Legge-Bourke — Prince William and Prince Harry's former childhood nanny — in an attempt to land his 1995 Panorama interview with the royal, according to a new report.
Diana was said to have believed Prince Charles wanted her murdered in order to marry Legge-Bourke, and she was so convinced that the royal nanny had become pregnant by Charles that an investigation was launched by the Queen's private secretary, Sir Robert Fellowes, who was also Diana's brother-in-law, according to the Daily Mail.
Bashir, 58 — now BBC News religion editor — has been accused of telling Diana a series of lies and manipulations in order to get her to do the interview, in which she famously claimed there were "three of us" in her marriage to Prince Charles.
In October 2020, the Sunday Times alleged that Bashir also showed two false bank statements to Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, in a bid to convince him that one of his staff was leaking information about their family.
"This was what led me to talk to Diana about such things," Spencer told PEOPLE in November. "This, in turn, led to the meeting where I introduced Diana to Bashir, on September 19, 1995. This then led to the interview."
After a months-long investigation, Scotland Yard confirmed in early March, however, that Bashir won't face criminal charges over the allegations he faked bank statements to secure the interview.
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In November, the BBC announced that they hired former British Supreme Court Judge John Dyson, Lord Dyson to lead an independent investigation surrounding Diana's appearance on Panorama.
According to the Daily Mail, Lord Dyson was told that Diana had suddenly changed her mind about doing the interview in the days before filming and that the false abortion receipt convinced her to do it. Dyson will reportedly publish his full report in the coming months.
A spokesperson for the BBC tells PEOPLE in an email, "Martin won't be making any public comments while the investigation's ongoing. The BBC has no comment to make on this."
Diana's bombshell sit-down led swiftly to an order from Queen Elizabeth that Diana and Charles should divorce (they had separated in 1992), which they did in 1996. Diana died at age 36 following a car crash in Paris in August 1997.