The British Royal Family has denied that it had anything to do with the BBC’s last moment decision to pull a documentary on how Prince Charles and the family responded to Princess Diana’s death in 1997.
Last week, a report from the Radio Times claimed that lawyers for the family asked the BBC not to air Reinventing the Royals, a two-part film that was not made with the family’s cooperation. It was supposed to start on BBC2 this past Sunday, but has now been postponed until later in the year.
Reinventing was hosted by Steve Hewlett and featured an interview with Sandy Henney, Prince Charles’ press secretary at the time of Princess Diana’s death. She reportedly says in the film that Charles was obsessed with how the public would see him, especially in light of his relationship with Camilla Partker Bowles, the current Duchess of Cornwall.
At the time, the BBC said Reinventing was delayed “until later in the new year while a number of issues including the use of archive footage are resolved.”
Now, the Hollywood Reporter notes that a letter from Prince Charles’ communications secretary Kristina Kyriacou has appeared in the Telegraph, denying that the family had anything to do with the film’s delay. “
Clarence House has also and importantly neither blocked nor attempted to block the proposed programme,” she wrote.
“The decision to broadcast – and when – is that of the BBC alone,” Kyriacou continued. “Clarence House is solely interested in receiving assurances regarding fairness, accuracy and tone in accordance with the principles of editorial fairness and obligations under the BBC Editorial Guidelines and the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.”
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