DIANA CHRONICLES: A Compromised Courtship? + Political Satirist - Intel Lady | Ep.153 | The Scandal Mongers Podcast

In the build up to the 30th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Phil is launching a new regular feature - his Diana Chronicles. Based on his unique published - and unpublished - work on her life, he's going to re-examine all of the most important things you THINK you know about his remarkable and controversial woman in real detail. Starting with two statements that have become commonplace: that Diana had an unhappy childhood which damaged her in some way, and that she grew into an innocent ingenue, unaware of the sophisticated, decadent life of her future husband. Are either of these statements based on any real evidence? Do they fully explain the development of her character? And why did we come to believe them?

In the last episode Phil explored one of the darkest chapters of the ‘War of the Waleses’, the post mortem ’thrashing of Diana’ by some of her ex husband’s closest advisors. He didn’t know then that this story would, within a week, become headline news all around the world because of the new book by Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer. With extraordinary claims flying around, and an apparently open war between the Spencers family and King Charles, who are we to believe, is it even right to air such allegations now, and what does it all mean for the ongoing family rift over the recently returned Harry and Meghan?

Phil has discussed his feelings about ‘The War of the Waleses’ many times. But he’s never before gone into detail about the remarkable documentary project he made with Patrick Jephson over 20 years ago. Now, with Patrick's permission, he will do. The highlight is the story behind an astonishing interview with Penny Junor and what it revealed about efforts to trash Diana just a few months after her death, as part of an operation designed by the then Prince Charles' most trusted advisors to boost support for him and Camilla.

Yes, six years after MEGXIT, the dynamic duo are headed back to Britain and - whisper it softly - maybe a return to some royal duties too. But will bygones ever be bygones and what’s really going on behind the scenes?

Phil thought that the controversy over Professor Jason Arday - allegations of plagiarism and a somewhat inflated resume - was simply a sad story of lowering standards at his old University. But then it was revealed that the UK police got involved to investigate a senior education correspondent just for sending the Prof questions in an email. Now Phil think’s this is a full blown scandal, with much wider ramifications.