Rare footage of behind the scenes of ITV News’ Steve Scott’s questions to Princess Diana
Rare footage unveiled by ITV News shows Princess Diana answering questions from the press on her landmark trip to Angola in January 1997.
The clip is part of a new episode of Reporting History, in which Steve Scott – ITV News’ Africa Correspondent at the time – accompanied the princess on a visit to the country as part of her campaign against landmines.
Diana’s visit came at the height of international debate over landmine use and drew criticism from sections of the tabloid press and the then-Conservative government, which suggested her stance aligned with Tony Blair’s Labour Party.
Former Africa Correspondent Steve Scott with Princess Diana in 1997. Credit: ITV News
The newly-aired archive footage shows Diana directly addressing the controversy in a sit-down with reporters.
Scott suggests: “Can we ask the question about the political role?”
Diana responds: “I’d have thought that was the most important question out of the two. I’d go for that one.”
Scott asks if she means the political question, and Diana nods.
Princess Diana at a minefield in Angola, 1997. Credit: PA
Diana’s team seems reluctant, with someone off-camera saying: “No, not the political one, you don’t mean the political one.”
But she pushes back, insisting Scott’s question is the one she would like to answer.
During her time in Angola, Diana famously walked through a minefield cleared by the Halo Trust to highlight the plight of those maimed by military munitions.
The famous images of the princess made global headlines and prompted the signing of a landmine ban in Ottawa in 1998, a year after her death.
Former Africa Correspondent for ITV News Steve Scott with Princess Diana. Credit: ITV News
In the interview, Diana goes on to say the political storm over her campaign was “merely a distraction, because I am not a political figure, I am a humanitarian figure and always have been and always will be.”
Scott told Reporting History presenter Tom Bradby that he ended up getting on the same flight as Diana, where he spoke to her about being a mother and her plans for her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
He recalled: “Despite the fact that this campaign was very important to her now and she was going to continue working on it, she said her priority was her boys and would continue to be her boys, and that’s where she would be focusing most of her energy going forward.”
Reflecting on her death just seven months later, Scott said: “The woman that I spoke to about her sons and how important they were to her, suddenly those boys did not have that mother”.
You can find out more in the latest episode of Reporting History, available on ITVX, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms.
Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below…
