Charles Spencer says Diana would be 'pleased the truth is out' about Martin Bashir scandal

Charles Spencer has claimed Diana would be pleased the truth has come to light about her BBC interview. Photo / Getty Images

Princess Diana's brother says she was "taken to a very dark place" in her BBC interview with Martin Bashir.

Charles Spencer said his sister's last resting place on an island in the middle of a lake on the family estate is like an "oasis of calm," reports People.

He told Good Morning Britain he sometimes visits the grave with his family on "landmark days" like birthdays and Mother's Day and always takes flowers.

"I do go a lot, and it's an oasis of calm, and it's a lovely place to go."

It comes as Spencer has been increasingly vocal about an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Diana's controversial BBC Panorama interview in 1995. A probe by leading judge Lord Dyson into the interview found journalist Martin Bashir had convinced Spencer to introduce him to the princess using fake documents.

Spencer told Good Morning Britain, "I hope she'd be pleased the truth is out to the context. She was taken into a very dark place, her paranoia was fed."

And former BBC director general Lord Tony Hall told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that he was "sorry for the hurt caused" to the family by the scandal surrounding the interview. Bashir will not face criminal charges.

Lord Hall said of the decision to keep employing Bashir despite his questionable tactics, "I trusted a journalist. I gave him a second chance. We, the team, gave him a second chance, and that trust was abused and was misplaced."

pic.twitter.com/lpZXrQNsid

— Charles Spencer (@cspencer1508) November 7, 2020

Prince William has strongly criticised the way the interview was obtained, saying, "It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC's failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her."

On July 1, which would have been Diana's 60th birthday, a new statue to her will be unveiled by Prince William and Prince Harry as the world remembers the princess, who died in a Paris car crash nearly 24 years ago.

Spencer said it will be an "emotional day".

"I remember my father always used to talk about the day Diana was born, 1st July 1961, and it was a sweltering hot day and this wonderful daughter appeared. It's so funny to be of an age now where your slightly older sister's 60. It will be an emotional day, but it will be a tribute to a much-missed and much-loved sister, mother, etc."