Private Princess Diana tapes where she talks about her troubled marriage will be aired by British broadcaster Channel Four despite protests.
In the recordings, the late princess talked openly about her how she was raised, dating Prince Charles and his affair with current wife Camilla Parker-Bowles, CNN reported. Peter Settelen, Princess Diana's voice coach, made the tapes in 1992 with the purpose of improving her public speaking techniques, the network said.
"The excerpts from the tapes recorded with Peter Settelen have never been shown before on British television and are an important historical source," Channel Four said in a statement, according to CNN.
"We carefully considered all the material used in the documentary and, though the recordings were made in private, the subjects covered are a matter of public record and provide a unique insight into the preparations Diana undertook to gain a public voice and tell her own personal story," Channel Four continued.
The show "Diana: In Her Own Words" is scheduled to air Sunday on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and on PBS in the U.S., according to ABC News. Some of Princess Diana's friends and former employees have charged that airing the tapes violates Diana's privacy because she never meant for them to be made public, ABC News said.
Princess Diana's brother, Lord Charles Spencer, for example, said the personal tapes belonged to the family in a long court battle to prevent their public airing, ABC News noted. The court eventually ruled that Settelen was the rightful owner and he sold them in the United States in 2004.
In a statement to ABC News, Channel 4 called the tapes "an important historical source."
"We carefully considered all the material used in the documentary and, though the recordings were made in private, the subjects covered are a matter of public record and provide a unique insight into the preparations Diana undertook to gain a public voice and tell her own personal story, which culminated in her later interview for Panorama," Channel Four stated, per ABC News.
Royal biographer Penny Junor compared the interest in the tapes to "people stopping for a motorway pileup to see if there are any dead bodies," CBS News reported.
"(The tapes) are deeply personal," Junor told CBS News. "They are – will be extremely humiliating to the Prince of Wales, damaging to the royal family, hurtful to William and Harry and Diana's sisters and brother."
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