Princess Diana feared dramatic Panorama interview was a 'mistake'

Princess Diana is said to have feared she made a mistake by agreeing to her 1995 Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, according to her close friend.

• Princess Diana reportedly made a frantic phone call to her friend, astrologer Debbie Frank, just 24 hours before the interview aired
• Debbie claims Diana was having last-minute doubts about going public on the state of her marriage
• It follows royal news that Prince William called a probe into the interview a "step in the right direction"

Astrologer Debbie Frank claims that Princess Diana made a last-minute phone call to her, panicked that her admission about the state of her marriage to Prince Charles would cause "too many waves".

"She called me the day before it aired and said, 'I've done this big thing and I hope it's the right thing and doesn't create too many waves. I needed to tell my story – it's time people heard the truth," Debbie told The Sunday People.

"She sounded quite breathy and in a highly charged state. She was worried the public might turn against her and that she had said the wrong thing."

Debbie added that Diana only calmed down when she saw polls that showed the public had reacted well to the interview.

Debbie's admission comes after the BBC appointed an ex-judge to lead an investigation into how Martin Bashir got Princess Diana to agree to the interview that saw her open up about Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla’s relationship.

The interview sent shockwaves through the royal family back in 1995 as Princess Diana spoke candidly about the breakdown of her marriage, amid reports Princess Diana's and Prince Charles' divorce was influenced by this key fact.

On Diana’s expectations of marriage, she said: "I think like any marriage, especially when you've had divorced parents like myself, you'd want to try even harder to make it work and you don't want to fall back into a pattern that you've seen happen in your own family.

"I desperately wanted it to work, I desperately loved my husband and I wanted to share everything together, and I thought that we were a very good team."

Sadly, there were complications that included The Prince of Wales’ close relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.

When Martin asked Diana: "Do you think Mrs Parker-Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage?"

She replied: "Well, there was three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."