The infamous Princess Diana television interview in 1995 which rocked the monarchy just got more scandalous 25 years later as BBC reporter Martin Bashir is accused of falsifying evidence to gain access to her. Her brother the Earl Spencer says bank accounts were forged to appear to show courtiers were being paid to give information on Diana to the security services; and tales were spun about the young princes’ nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, hinting she was having an affair with Charles. All of which would feed into Diana’s paranoia. She agreed to do the interview since she thought it would concentrate on her charity work but she was seduced/provoked into making inflammatory comments about her marriage and Charles’ unfitness to be king.
Bashir, born 19 January 1963 12.30pm London (time from astrotheme), has had a chequered career here and in the USA with several slips and mishaps along the way but has finally, bizarrely, ended up as BBC Religious Affairs correspondent. He is at present unwell with coronavirus. He has a late Capricorn Sun with an intense and elusive Moon Neptune in Scorpio squaring onto Saturn in his 10th opposition Mars in Leo – he’ll be attracted to glamour and publicity and be tricky to pin down with such a Neptune. He also has a pushily-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto Uranus square Venus in Sagittarius – has great charm though lacks emotional depth, can be superficial.
His Saturn in the 10th is interesting – Sakoian & Acker remark: “Those with Saturn in this house must exercise extreme caution concerning principles, or disgrace and heavy karmic debts may be incurred. A great price must be paid for infraction of the universal law.” In shorthand, cutting corners always comes back to bite.
Diana’s synastry with Bashir was explosive with his Mars conjunct her Uranus and his Uranus conjunct her Mars – they spurred each other on to an unhealthy level of excitement and risk. His Capricorn Sun conjunct her Saturn were both being rattled by the highly strung tr Uranus in Capricorn (conjunct tr Neptune). Tr Neptune was also square Princess Diana’s Midheaven hinting at her confusion about her life’s direction. The transiting Jupiter Venus Mars in Sagittarius was also just over her Ascendant moving through her 1st giving her a rush of confidence.
The other Royals were less enlivened. The Queen had the tr Uranus Neptune crossing her Capricorn Ascendant and tr Pluto at zero degrees Sagittarius in her 10th inconjunct her Sun – it put immense strain on her and damaged her image. Prince Charles had tr Pluto inconjunct his 10th house Moon, which would rattle his career path considerably. Prince William also had the quincunx stress factor with tr Pluto inconjunct his Cancer Sun, and moving to conjunct his Uranus; and tr Neptune Uranus square his Pluto and trine his Venus. For Harry it was less of a career-defining moment and more of an emotional setback with tr Saturn in Pisces square his Mars and moving to oppose his Sun. With tr Neptune trine his Sun and tr Pluto inconjunct his Pluto.
The BBC is now in the frame for whitewashing the affair. Bashir always was a gritty fit since his Saturn in Aquarius is conjunct the BBC’s Mars and his Mars and Uranus Pluto fall in the BBC’s 4th – but his confident Jupiter falls in the BBC 10th so maybe they reckoned his pluses outweighed his minuses, until now. The BBC doesn’t have its troubles to seek at the moment, a great many of them self-inflicted and the Bashir interview may loom as significant problem next year with tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting on the BBC Mars as well as Bashir’s Saturn.
After she died Ann Leslie, the Daily Mail journalist remarked that Diana had signed a pact with the devil when she used the media to gain attention and pursue her vendettas about feeling badly treated. It’s never a deal that ends well.
Years ago I made documentaries for the BBC for four years after 11 years in commercial television and the biggest cowboys I ever worked with were in the BBC. Coming from what was supposedly the vulgarian younger cousin it was quite a culture shock having to grapple with the arrogant amour propre that pervaded Broadcasting House and all corners. The BBC does engender extraordinary loyalty but there was every bit as much wrong as right in the hallowed corridors and no DG has ever really managed to sort out the core problems.