It’s a disgrace that it has taken 27 years for Tiggy Legge-Bourke, adored nanny to Princes William and Harry, to “wring an apology from the BBC”, says India Knight in The Sunday Times. It has been perfectly obvious for years that Martin Bashir and Panorama lied about her to secure an interview with Princess Diana. The poor woman has spent nearly half her life knowing large numbers of people believe the “malicious slur” that she became pregnant during an affair with Prince Charles and was forced to have an abortion. Diana became “obsessed” with the idea, even saying “Sorry about the baby” to her at a party.
In reality, Tiggy was a “dream nanny” to the two princes during their parents’ tricky divorce. A “charming Mary Poppins figure”, she was one of those pink-cheeked, jolly, “slightly labrador-like girls in pearls”, at one point so devoted to cigarettes that she smoked while skiing. Tiggy reportedly said things like, “I give them what they need at this stage, fresh air, a rifle and a horse”, and got into trouble for letting the boys abseil down a 160ft dam without helmets or safety lines. And they clearly loved her. William once invited her to a celebration at Eton instead of either of his parents; she is said to be godmother to Harry’s son Archie. After causing Tiggy so much harm, the BBC’s “legally extracted apology” just looks “shoddy and venal”.