The BBC has apologized after an inquiry found that journalist Martin Bashir used "deceitful" tactics to secure his famous 1995 interview with Princess Diana.
An inquiry into the interview found that Bashir showed forged bank statements and lied to get the interview with Princess Diana, during which she detailed her bulimia and the breakdown of her marriage with Prince Charles.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie said on Thursday that the interview "fell far short" of the company's standards.
"While today's BBC has significantly better processes and procedures, those that existed at the time should have prevented the interview being secured in this way," Davie told The BBC. "The BBC should have made greater effort to get to the bottom of what happened at the time and been more transparent about what it knew."
"While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today," he added.
Martin Bashir resigned from his role as the BBC's religion editor before the inquiry was made public, Insider previously reported.
"Martin Bashir has stepped down from his position as the BBC's religion editor and is leaving the corporation. He let us know of his decision last month, just before being readmitted to hospital for another surgical procedure on his heart," the BBC's deputy director of news, Jonathan Munro, wrote in an internal staff memo, according to The Guardian.
"Although he underwent major surgery toward the end of last year, he is facing some ongoing issues and has decided to focus on his health," the memo added.
Bashir's interview with Diana was viewed by nearly 23 million people, the BBC reported at the time.
Diana publicly acknowledged Prince Charles' affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles for the first time in the interview, with the famous line: "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
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