A new documentary about Princess Diana will feature five hours of previously restricted audio recordings made before her death, potentially offering fresh context to sensational claims recently made by her brother, Earl Spencer.
Titled Diana Unheard, the project draws on secret tapes recorded by the late princess and passed to author Andrew Morton through her friend, Dr James Colthurst.
The recordings formed the foundation of Morton’s 1992 book, Diana: Her True Story. Diana’s role in the book was not made public until after her death in 1997.
Producers told Deadline that the tapes address some of the same subjects explored by Earl Spencer in his recent book, Swan Song, which led to a public dispute between him and Buckingham Palace.
According to the production team, Diana speaks candidly about her marriage, her sons and the line of succession. She also discusses former Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his titles last year because of his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The princess also reflects on her relationship with Queen Camilla, then known as Camilla Parker Bowles, and recounts an alleged confrontation between the two women concerning the then Prince of Wales.
Kerene Barefield, creative director of the show’s production company Love Monday TV, has spoken about the project publicly for the first time. She said the aim was to “reframe the narrative around the Princess and give her a voice” nearly 30 years after her death.
“The media always gave us this tragedy that Diana was sad and lonely and she was manipulated,” Barefield said.
Then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana attend a banquet thrown by President Roh Moo-hyun on November 3, 1992, in Seoul, South Korea
“These tapes don’t tell that story at all. They tell a story of an incredibly brave woman who had agency and knew what she wanted and how she was going to get to it.”
The three-part series is expected to be released next year, around the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death. Its arrival could prove uncomfortable for Buckingham Palace, which has recently faced a series of scathing allegations from Earl Spencer.
The Palace has rejected his claims that the King appeared “giddily elated…like a lottery winner” after his former wife’s death and that, during a tense telephone call, he said, “we’ll forget her soon enough”. The comments have been dismissed as being clouded by grief.
Love Monday has previously worked with Buckingham Palace on several productions, including a documentary focusing on Queen Camilla’s campaign against domestic violence.
The documentary is reportedly due to receive a major launch at an industry event next week, with details of its worldwide broadcaster expected to follow.
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Barefield said the idea developed after Morton appeared on another Love Monday programme. She asked him what had happened to the tapes.
Morton, publisher Michael O’Mara and Colthurst agreed to allow the recordings to be used, and all three will feature in the series. Diana’s former lover James Hewitt has also been interviewed.
Although selected portions of the recordings have been broadcast over the years, the complete collection has not previously been made available to a documentary team.
Deadline reports that the three episodes will be titled Got To Get Out, You’re On Your Own and Time Is Precious.
Barefield said Diana’s determination to publish the book, and her reasons for doing so, are aspects of the story that many people have failed to understand. She also noted that, when the book was released, nobody could know that Diana had been involved.
“One of the things I loved when I first heard the tapes was just hearing her laughter,” Barefield said. The middle episode returns to Diana’s childhood, revealing details audiences may not expect and highlighting the agency and drive she displayed from a young age.
Earl Spencer’s recent book Swan Song’ sparked a war of words between hims and Buckingham Palace. Pictured on Lorraine on September 23
‘And then the final episode brings it all back to the book again, and you start getting this countdown to when it is going to come out, and there is this time bomb that’s ready to explode.’
She adds: ‘This is what Diana would have done if she was still alive today. That’s how we framed it. It’s her documentary.’
But both the producers, Morton and Colthurst will undoubtedly face criticism for ‘cashing in’ on the late princess, particularly as her son, Prince William, has repeatedly asked for her memory to be left in peace.
He is known to be concerned that much of his mother’s collaboration with the media – including the by now infamous Panorama interview he believes should never be aired again – came at a particularly vulnerable time in her life.
It is likely that many critics will say Diana clearly never intended for the audio tapes to be made public and that she may well have felt differently now.
Indeed, there is much evidence to suggest that she and the then Prince Charles had a much better relationship at the time of her death and Diana wished him well.
It has also been confirmed that Prince Harry is exploring ways to mark the 30th anniversary of his mother’s death including a possible documentary.
