What happened in this episode?
Julian Dorey interviews British author and agent Andrew Lownie about Princess Diana’s legacy, royal family power, and Lownie’s broader reporting on Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein. Lownie says his view of Diana has shifted over time and argues she was treated cynically by the palace and Charles’s circle, including what he describes as efforts to discredit her mental health. He also says he has been approached about a prospective book based on Diana’s pre-death tapes; he has seen transcripts but not heard the audio, and says the material contains highly sensitive claims, including an allegation of childhood sexual abuse.
The conversation turns to Diana’s death, where Lownie says he has seen “anomalies” in the official narrative and remains open to alternative explanations, while also questioning which actors would have had motive and authority to order an assassination. He alleges the royal household rapidly “controlled” post-mortem handling, citing rapid embalming and asserting proper procedures were not followed.
On Epstein and Prince Andrew, Lownie frames the scandal as espionage as well as sexual exploitation, and makes several unverified claims, including that he was given an FBI document alleging Andrew had connections to Russian criminal networks linked to intelligence services. He also claims Prince Edward had contact with Epstein in 1996, and discusses long-running rumours around Andrew’s overseas relationships and alleged facilitation networks, while acknowledging evidential and witness-intimidation obstacles in bringing cases forward.
