A new documentary about Diana, Princess of Wales featuring controversial video tapes recorded by her voice coach is to be shown on Channel 4.



Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Princess’s death, the film includes Diana speaking candidly and informally about her upbringing, her courtship with the Prince of Wales, her troubled marriage and her public life.

The tapes – recorded by Diana’s speech coach Peter Settelen – have never before been broadcast on British television. Some of the footage is being shown for the first time.

The announcement that the video tapes are to be aired in the UK comes as ITV prepares to screen its own Diana documentary on Monday evening. It features the Princess’s sons, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, opening up about their loss, including their regret at their final, brief phone call with their mother.

Diana hired Settelen between 1992 and 1993 to help improve her public speaking voice, following her collaboration with author Andrew Morton on a biography and ahead of her bombshell Panorama interview in 1995.

The footage, filmed at her private residence in Kensington Palace, shows Diana rehearsing her speaking voice and reflecting at length about her life.

Ralph Lee, Channel 4’s head of factual, said the documentary was an “important contribution to the historical record”.

“The tapes, which show a relaxed and off-duty Diana, are hugely illuminating about her personality, humour and charm,” he said.

Others featured in the film include Dr James Colthurst, the Princess’s friend of more than 30 years, and Anne Allan, her ballet teacher. Both are speaking on the record for the first time.

The tapes were returned to Settelen in 2004 after a lengthy dispute with Diana’s family, headed by Earl Spencer, who said the footage belonged to them.

A batch of some 20 videos had been held by Scotland Yard after being seized in a January 2001 raid on the home of former royal butler Paul Burrell.

The content of the tapes was regarded as so sensitive that the prosecution agreed not to use them in Burrell’s trial at the Old Bailey, which collapsed in 2002.

The tapes were later sold to American broadcaster NBC for an undisclosed sum and excerpts were broadcast in 2004, showing Diana talking of how Charles “leapt upon” her to kiss her at the start of their relationship.

She also described running to the Queen after she became convinced that Charles had resumed his romance with Camilla Parker Bowles.

She said: “I went to the top lady and I’m sobbing. And I said, ‘What do I do?’ (The Queen) said, ‘I don’t know – Charles is hopeless’.”

In 2004, the screening was met with criticism amid calls for the tapes not to be shown for at least 100 years.

Sir Teddy Taylor, then Tory MP for Rochford and Southend East, appealed to broadcasters’ “sense of decency” not to air the tapes while Diana’s sons were still alive.