Yahoo Movies Inside Prince Charles' Top Secret Meeting with Scotland Yard over Princess Diana Accusations
Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Prince Charles and Princess Diana
Prince Charles was questioned by the U.K. police in 2005 about the death of his ex-wife, Princess Diana - with the meeting's secrecy a top priority.
The probe was part of Operation Paget, the investigation into the various conspiracy theories surrounding Diana's death launched by the British Metropolitan Police in 2004.
This week, former head of Scotland Yard John Stevens detailed the circumstances surrounding the interview, which quietly took place at St. James's Palace in London, to the Daily Mail. Stevens said that only Prince Charles and his private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, knew about the meeting on the palace's side, and only Stevens and his senior investigator, Dave Douglas, from the investigation force were aware of it to prevent leaks and publicity.
The meeting took place on December 6, 2005, amid a busy day for Prince Charles including an evening reception for the Prince's Regeneration Trust.
"The interview was unique. Of course it was a unique situation," Stevens recalled. "But we approached it as we would any other witness."
Stevens told the Daily Mail that after cordial small talk, he read aloud a note written by Princess Diana in 1995 that claimed, "My husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury," so that he could marry Tiggy Legge-Bourke, a nanny for Prince William and Prince Harry. Charles and Diana divorced in 1996.
Diana added in the note that Charles's current wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, "is nothing but a decoy."
Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Tiggy Legge-Bourke Prince Harry and Prince Charles
Stevens says he read the note to Prince Charles and then asked him, "Why do you think the princess wrote this note, sir?"
The royal replied, "I did not know anything about [the note] until it was published in the media."
"You didn't discuss this note with her, sir?" Stevens asked, to which Charles said, "No, I did not know it existed."
When asked, "Do you know why the princess had these feelings, sir?" Charles replied, "No, I don't."
"At the end of the day he was incredibly cooperative because he had nothing to hide," Stevens told the Daily Mail.
PA Images Princess Diana during her Panorama interview
Princess Diana's note was written around the time she did her famous BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir.
An inquiry conducted by former supreme court judge John Dyson found last month that Bashir used "deceitful methods" to secure the interview by commissioning fake bank statements.
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Stevens told the Daily Mail he regretted that he and his officers did not interview Bashir.
"If there'd been an allegation then that Bashir had produced allegedly fake documents to Princess Diana, which is a criminal offense, we'd have investigated it. My goodness me, we would have done," he said. "But this has only come out recently, which is unfortunate."
