Princess Diana’s Brother Accuses Palace of Plotting Before Her Death
Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, believes the events surrounding her 1995 BBC interview left her frightened and vulnerable. He thinks her growing distrust of people around her played a part in what happened before her death. RadarOnline alleged that British intelligence officers tried to push Diana to her breaking point.
The report also claimed that Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s late husband, was involved. These allegations center on journalist Martin Bashir and Diana’s interview for the BBC’s Panorama. Bashir used fake bank statements to gain Spencer’s trust. He then secured an introduction to Diana.
An independent inquiry led by Lord Dyson confirmed the deception in 2021. Spencer believes it made Diana feel she couldn’t trust those around her. He also links her fears to her decision to leave her longtime security team.
“The consequences of Diana being told, ‘You cannot trust anyone,’ meant that she was alone that night, really, and I think that she was so convinced that she got rid of her driver, a totally innocent man,” Spencer said. He called her death “very, very preventable.” Spencer also pushed back against claims that Diana was simply paranoid.
He believed she had reasons to feel she couldn’t trust those around her. He also thought it left her vulnerable that night. Bashir reportedly made Diana believe that people were intercepting her private emails. The report claimed Diana’s phone was being bugged and her car was being tracked. The source said she was caught in an alleged scheme, describing her as “a lamb to the slaughter.”
The source also claimed there were “recordings of Prince Charles and his private secretary Richard Aylard planning the ‘end game.’” Spencer reportedly understood the conversations as being about divorce. Diana allegedly feared they pointed to a plan to kill her.
The report claimed the alleged operation was meant to push Diana into speaking publicly about the royals. This would give Charles, who was resisting, the power to force a divorce. It also linked Charles’s affair with Camilla, now Queen Camilla, to Diana’s relationships with cardiothoracic surgeon Hasnat Khan and film producer Dodi Fayed.
The report further claimed MI6 labeled Diana a national security risk because she was Prince William’s mother. William is the heir to the throne. Diana died at 36 alongside Fayed, 42, and driver Henri Paul. British police investigated murder claims through Operation Paget. The inquiry found no evidence of a conspiracy.
In 2008, an inquest jury found that grossly negligent driving by Paul and the pursuing vehicles caused the deaths. The jury also found that the failure to wear seat belts contributed. RadarOnline also claimed that a 6,000-page French investigative file has been sealed for decades.
Conspiracy theorists believe it could reveal that Diana was murdered and identify those responsible. Buckingham Palace responded to claims in Spencer’s 2026 memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, with a statement about how grief can affect memory.
“While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss.”
