Prince William's nanny gets PAID for Charles affair scandal

The BBC yesterday paid around £200,000 (AUD$346,000) to a former royal governess who was subjected to a “completely unfounded” smear by Martin Bashir.

Tim Davie, director general of the corporation, also made embarrassing apologies to Tiggy Legge-Bourke and Prince Charles and his sons William and Harry.

The court has heard that Ms Legge-Bourke suffered extensive and angry damage for 25 years as a result of “false and malicious accusations”.

Although not named at trial, the false claim is said to have been made by Bashir while working on a BBC Panorama interview with Princess Diana.

Miss Legge-Bourke said the program’s “false narrative” had been “haunting” the Royal Family since it aired in 1995.

An official statement, agreed by the former nanny and the BBC, said she was the victim of “very serious and completely unfounded” allegations that she had an affair with Charles which resulted in an aborted pregnancy.

These allegations, the statement said, had been “fabricated” and a series of false claims had left the former nanny “very upset and confused”.

The court was told the lies had caused “serious personal consequences for all parties”.

Bashir is said to have made a series of slurs about Miss Legge-Bourke in an attempt to secure his famous interview with Diana.

The document, which was read out at the High Court in London, revealed that the princess “became annoyed” with Miss Legge-Bourke for no apparent reason after she learned of the allegations.

Miss Legge-Bourke, now known as Alexandra Pettifer, said she and her family “continue to face suspicion and mistrust” as a result of the claims.

It added that “a long shadow has been cast over relationships with those near and dear to him”.

In a devastating part of the agreed statement, it said he and his family could have avoided lies, suspicion and anger for 25 years had the BBC not “failed”.

Last year’s devastating report by Lord Dyson into the Bashir scandal revealed the scale of the “deceptive behavior” used in securing interviews, which even extended to fake bank statements.

The report found that the BBC had conducted a “grossly ineffective” internal investigation into the matter.

Alexandra Pettifer, better known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, has received an apology and payment from the BBC. Credit: Aaron Chono/AP

The BBC’s portion of yesterday’s statement said the company wanted to “openly apologize” to Miss Legge-Bourke without conditions, saying the allegations were “completely unfounded”‘

It added: “The BBC is deeply sorry for the serious shortcomings of the plaintiffs and historical investigations”.

Ms Legge-Bourke said in a statement: “I am disappointed that legal action is required for the BBC to acknowledge the serious harm I have suffered.

“Unfortunately, I am one of many people whose lives have been hurt by the deceptive manner in which BBC Panorama was created and the subsequent failure of the BBC to properly investigate programming.

“The trouble caused by the Royal Family is a source of great disappointment for me. I know firsthand how much they were affected at that time, and how the program and the false narrative it created have haunted the family in the years that followed.

“Especially because until now there are still many that have not been adequately explained about the making of the program.”

Mr Davie apologized publicly to Miss Legge-Bourke and Princes Charles, William and Harry for the way Diana was “cheated” and the impact it had on all their lives.

He added that the BBC had “failed to ask the tough questions” and if he did his job properly, the princess would know the truth for the rest of her life.

Mr Davie added: “We disappointed him, the Royal Family and our audience”.

But despite saying the company would never air the program again – or license it in whole or in part to anyone else – he did not rule out the BBC using the short excerpt “for journalistic purposes”.

He said future uses needed to be agreed at the top level of the corporation.

This is the latest in a string of expensive payments caused by the tactics of the evil reporter Bashir.

Miss Legge-Bourke’s finish was deemed less than that received by graphic artist Matt Wiessler, who blew the whistle on Bashir and was later blacklisted by the company.

He is estimated to have received £500,000 (AUD$865,000) as part of his deal with the BBC.

Earlier this year the company paid Diana’s former private secretary Patrick Jephson £100,000 (AUD$173,000) along with an apology for “losses caused to her”.

He donated the money entirely to charity.

Mark Killick, a former senior reporter at Panorama, was paid around £50,000 (AUD$86,000) by the BBC, defaming him after he blew the whistle on Bashir.

The broadcaster has also reportedly offered more than £1.5 million (AUD$2.5 million) to a charity selected by the Royal Family after the fallout from Dyson’s report.

This payment has not yet been made.

The payout for Miss Legge-Bourke is the equivalent of 1258 TV licenses costing £159 (AUD$275) each.

Earl Spencer’s former head of security, Alan Waller, is also expected to get compensation after he was falsely accused by Bashir of selling information about Diana.

The former nanny’s lawyer said that the compensation payments were for “the purpose of defending her reputation” and tried to compensate her for the “serious loss and distress” caused by the length of time it took to uncover the matter.

They said Miss Legge-Bourke held the BBC accountable for the “serious impact” the allegations had on her.

Their statement said that, in September 1995, Earl Spencer, Diana’s brother, was told that Prince Charles was in love with the former nanny and they had taken a “secret vacation” together.

Then in October 1995 – when the BBC’s negotiations with Diana for her Panorama appearance were at a “critical stage” – the princess had informed her lawyer that she had been told that Miss Legge-Bourke had had an abortion.

On Thursday, it said the former nanny felt she had to prove to others that the allegations were completely untrue and had exposed “highly sensitive issues, including personal medical information” in doing so.

The statement noted: “Unfortunately Diana, Princess of Wales, could not be convinced even when irrefutable evidence was presented”.

Kensington Palace declined to comment on the latest developments.

But last year William issued a powerful and deeply emotional statement condemning the BBC in the harshest terms for its handling of the scandal.

He is known to be still deeply saddened by what his late mother went through and feels excited that the interview will never be seen again in any form.

Friends recently told the Daily Mail that she is also mature enough to understand “then, this is now” and will continue to work with national broadcasters.

But they added that no one should be under any illusions about how angry he was at Bashir’s actions and further covered up C.

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