BBC pays 'six-figure' damages to Tiggy Legge-Bourke

The BBC has offered six-figure damages to the former nanny of Prince William and Harry over false claims made by Martin Bashir to obtain his interview with Princess Diana, according to reports. 

Tiggy Legge-Bourke, now known as Tiggy Pettifer, was offered the payout after the former BBC journalist, 58, told Princess Diana that her husband was 'in love' with their children's nanny in order to secure his 1995 Panorama interview.

Mr Bashir is also said to have suggested that Prince Charles and Ms Pettifer, 56, had flown off on a secret two-week holiday together.

The journalist went on to claim that the royal nanny had gone on to have an abortion and showed the Princess of Wales a fake receipt for the procedure, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The BBC has now offered the former nanny 'significant' damages for the distressing smears. 

It is reported that a speedy settlement is likely to be agreed by the end of this month with the broadcaster thought to have offered more than £100,000. 

Mrs Pettifer, 56, who was the nanny to the two princes between 1993 and 1999, is now in charge of a bed and breakfast business in Wales. 

A source told the Daily Telegraph: 'Tiggy Legge-Bourke was right at the centre of Bashir's manipulation and it is right that the damage caused to her is recognised by the BBC.'  

In 1995, Princess Diana sent shockwaves around the world when she famously told BBC journalist Martin Bashir there were 'three of us in this marriage' during an interview on Panorama.

The 60-minute interview, which was watched by some 23 million people, saw the royal speak of Prince Charles' relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles and the lack of support she felt from the royal family. 

Earlier this year Prince Harry blasted the BBC Panorama interview as 'unethical' while Prince William said Mr Bashir's 'lurid and false claims' to secure it fuelled the 'paranoia and isolation' of their mother's final years. 

Lord Dyson's

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