THE BBC has given a significant pay-out to William and Harry's former nanny after she was smeared by rogue reporter Martin Bashir, it is claimed.
Tiggy Legge-Bourke has reportedly been offered a settlement over false claims made by Bashir as he desperately tried to secure his Panorama interview with Princess Diana.
An official inquiry concluded Bashir told Diana that her husband Charles was in love with the nanny, who now goes by Tiggy Pettifer.
And Diana's brother Earl Spencer says she was also told Charles and Ms Legge-Bourke enjoyed a two-week holiday together.
Most damagingly of all, it's alleged Bashir went further – and claimed Charles was having an affair with the nanny, who had gone on to have an abortion.
Bashir even produced a fake receipt showing payment for the termination, it's claimed.
The BBC has now recognised the harm caused to the 56-year-old and is understood to have offered her a six-figure sum, the Telegraph reports.
Sources told the publication an agreement will likely be reached by the end of the month.
And the broadcaster is going to pay out more than £100,000, it's claimed.
One insider said: “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 May, an independent inquiry concluded Bashir had used deceit to secure his interview with Diana.
The princess used the discussion to reveal that "there were three of us in this marriage" – a reference to Camilla Parker Bowles.
Lord Dyson, who conducted the probe earlier this year, was supplied with handwritten notes made by Earl Spencer.
LIES TO SMEAR NANNY
It was claimed in the documents that Bashir told Diana her husband was "in love with" Ms Legge-Bourke, who cared for William and Harry between 1993 and 1999.
Bashir denies spreading the smears.
However, whatever the source, Diana became so convinced of a relationship between Charles and Ms Legge-Bourke that she confronted the young woman at a Christmas party.
She is said to have approached the blameless nanny in 1995 and said: "So sorry about the baby."
She even wrote a letter two years before her death claiming that Prince Charles was plotting to kill her so he could marry Ms Legge-Bourke.
TIGGY'S DISTRESS
In the note, Diana predicted she would die through "brake failure and serious head injury".
The princess is said to have been obsessed with the mistaken idea of an affair – a false allegation deeply upsetting to the younger nanny.
Mark Stephens, a media lawyer with the law firm Howard Kennedy, said: “The BBC’s handling of Bashir was a catastrophe turned into a disaster and as a consequence, the corporation recognises the least said, the soonest mended.”
Bashir denies faking documents connected to the nanny.
He says notes made by Earl Spencer and attributed to him were in fact comments made by the princess.
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