Who Diana was really referring to when she said 'there were three of us in this marriage' - and it wasn't Camilla

When Diana, Princess of Wales, bared her soul on television for BBC's Panorama program 30 years ago, one of the most memorable things she said was "there were three of us in this marriage".

The interview was Diana's attempt to share her side of the story after then-Prince Charles gave an interview to Jonathan Dimbleby, in 1994, which he admitted to adultery and infidelity with Camilla Parker Bowles, now Queen Camilla.

But Diana's "there were three of us in this marriage" comment did not, as people often think, refer to Camilla.

A new book – Dianarama: The Betrayal of Princess Diana – written by Andy Webb, re-examines the Panorama interview and the lies the BBC journalist Martin Bashir told the princess, and her brother Earl Spencer, to win her trust.

The interview was huge at the time and was watched by an audience of 23 million on November 20, 1995.

It made headlines around the world and its consequences are still being felt today.

Prince William is believed to be one of the sources for Webb's information and the author suggests the Prince of Wales' entire life "has been shaped by what the BBC did to his mother".

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The Panorama interview has since been discredited after revelations Bashir had forged bank statements to convince the princess to speak, falsely telling Diana that her some of her closest aides were spying on her.

During the tell-all, which was recorded in secret inside Kensington Palace, Diana also spoke openly about her struggle with bulimia and confirmed her affair with James Hewitt.

But it was this line from Diana that remains one of the interview's most memorable moments: "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded".

Webb claims Diana's comment did not refer to Camilla as most people think.

Instead, the princess was speaking about Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who was then nanny to Prince William and Prince Harry.

In Webb's book, he reveals that Bashir had convinced Diana that Charles planned to have both her and Camilla killed in order to marry his pregnant mistress.

Bashir had told Diana that Prince Charles was "in love" with Legge-Bourke, who was then employed as his personal assistant, and that the two of them had gone on a two-week holiday.

He went on to claim that Legge-Bourke had gone on to have an abortion and showed Diana a fake receipt for the procedure.

In 2022, Legge-Bourke won damages of about £200,000 from the BBC after taking legal action over the false claims made by Bashir.

She has stated many times that she and Charles never had an affair.

In December, 1995, the princess confronted Legge-Bourke over the alleged abortion and told a senior member of palace staff that she had documentary evidence in the form of a hospital letter.

After being awarded the damages, Legge-Bourke said in a statement: "The distress caused to the Royal family is a source of great upset to me.

"I know first hand how much they were affected at the time, and how the programme and the false narrative it created have haunted the family in the years since. Especially because, still today, so much about the making of the programme is yet to be adequately explained."

In 2021, the BBC published Lord Dyson's independent investigation into the circumstances around the Panorama interview, exposing the journalist's "deceitful" behaviour. The BBC had previously tried to cover it up.

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