Lady Susan Hussey’s late husband: Former chairman of the BBC Marmaduke Hussey 

Lady Susan Hussey stepped down from the royal household on Wednesday after she allegedly refused to believe black domestic abuse campaigner Ngozi Fulani was British and asked her: ‘What part of Africa are you from?’

Her comments – made at a reception organised by Queen Consort Camilla – plunged Buckingham Palace into fresh allegations of racism, after Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle made accusations in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.

But Lady Susan, who was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II for decades and retained by King Charles III following his mother’s death, is not the only controversial member of her family to hit headlines.

The 83-year-old is the widow of Marmaduke Hussey, former chairman of the BBC who passed away in 2006.

During the 10 years he chaired the board of governors, he was embroiled in controversy when in 1995, Panorama aired Martin Bashir’s explosive interview with Princess Diana.

He famously fell out with BBC director-general John Birt over the tell-all, which was kept a secret from Lord Hussey, who later asked BBC governors to condemn the interview and the conduct of Birt and attempted to force his resignation.

His disgust for the production with the then Princess of Wales was recently portrayed in The Crown, which featured both Lord Hussey and his wife Lady Susan, played by Richard Cordery and Haydn Gwynne, respectively. 

Lady Susan Hussey (pictured with her late husband Marmaduke Hussey) stepped down from the royal household on Wednesday after she allegedly refused to believe black domestic abuse campaigner Ngozi Fulani was British and asked her: ‘What part of Africa are you from?’

Marmaduke was horrified by the BBC’s secret Panorama interview with the Princess of Wales, recorded without the knowledge of Buckingham Palace.

Lord Birt told a documentary: ‘The chairman set out to unseat me. He immediately sought to take action against me.’

Executives did not tell Lord Hussey about the interview until the last minute because they feared he might stop the broadcast. The Tory peer resigned two months later and wrote in his memoir that the episode had ‘darkened my last months at the BBC’. 

He was known to be a Prince Charles ‘loyalist’ and had close links to the Royal Family as his wife was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. 

Marmaduke Hussey (pictured with Princess Diana in 1992), former chairman of the BBC, passed away in 2006

Marmaduke Hussey (pictured with Princess Diana in 1992), former chairman of the BBC, passed away in 2006

During the 10 years he chaired the board of governors, he was embroiled in controversy when in 1995, Panorama aired Martin Bashir's explosive interview with Princess Diana (pictured)

During the 10 years he chaired the board of governors, he was embroiled in controversy when in 1995, Panorama aired Martin Bashir’s explosive interview with Princess Diana (pictured)

His disgust for the production with the then Princess of Wales was recently portrayed in The Crown , which featured both Lord Hussey and his wife Lady Susan, played by Richard Cordery (pictured) and Haydn Gwynne, respectively

His disgust for the production with the then Princess of Wales was recently portrayed in The Crown , which featured both Lord Hussey and his wife Lady Susan, played by Richard Cordery (pictured) and Haydn Gwynne, respectively

The decision not to tell Lord Hussey was discussed in a BBC documentary filmed to mark the tenth anniversary of Diana’s interview with journalist Martin Bashir. 

Lord Birt told the 2005 BBC2 Arena documentary: ‘[Hussey] tried to get the governors to condemn the programme, which they refused to do.

‘Having failed at that he tried to get the governors to condemn the way in which I had handled the programme and particularly the fact that I hadn’t alerted him as chairman. He failed to get what he wanted: a stinging rebuke which, he calculated, would force my resignation.’

Tim Gardam, who was the BBC’s head of weekly news and current affairs at the time, said executives had all believed that Lord Hussey, known as ‘Duke’, would have alerted Buckingham Palace if he had known of the planned broadcast.

Lord Birt told the documentary: ‘Marmaduke Hussey was a Prince Charles loyalist, he was increasingly concerned about Princess Diana. On a number of occasions he tried to poison her reputation with me.’

The former chairman of the BBC expressed serious misgivings about Bashir’s honesty during his exit interview 25 years ago. 

He gave three exit interviews to the BBC’s oral history archive at the end of his years steering the corporation, on the understanding they would not be shared until after his death. 

Giving his exit interviews on January 23, April 11 and August 21, 1996, Lord Hussey remarked: ‘There are many questions [which] arise still from that programme – and what incidentally has happened to Mr Bashir?

‘He’s never been heard of since. All we know is, an inquiry has been conducted into certain forged documents which he produced.

‘We were not told the result of that inquiry. I should think if he had been proved innocent, we would have been told.’

When asked about Mr Bashir’s ‘integrity’, Lord Hussey replied: ‘Well, I think it’s a bizarre situation, when the interviewer clearly does not ask the questions which should have been asked.’

In his memoirs, the former Chairman said the interview ‘darkened my last months at the BBC’, and he explained: ‘I did write to the Queen’s private secretary on behalf of “the very many members of our staff who do not believe that this programme was our finest hour”. I received a courteous letter in response.’ 

He famously fell out with BBC director-general John Birt (pictured together) over the tell-all, which was kept a secret from Lord Hussey, who later asked BBC governors to condemn the interview and the conduct of Birt and attempted to force his resignation

Rogue reporter Bashir used fake bank statements to gain access to Diana before telling her a litany of lies and smears to land his 1995 Panorama interview.

Timeline of the Diana-Panorama scandal

1986: Martin Bashir joins BBC as news correspondent and works on programmes including Songs of Praise, Public Eye and Panorama.

November 1995: The famous interview with Princess Diana turns Mr Bashir into TV’s hottest property.

1996: The Mail on Sunday reveals claims that Mr Bashir used faked bank documents to persuade Diana to talk. The BBC holds internal inquiry dismissed as a ‘whitewash’.

1999: Moves to ITV’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald. His scoops include interview with Stephen Lawrence suspects and documentary on Michael Jackson.

May 2004: Quits to host ABC’s Nightline in US. Suspended in 2008 after making ‘Asian babes’ remark at Asian American Journalists convention.

2010: Joins NBC News as an MSNBC anchor. He resigns in 2013 after controversial remarks about vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

2016: BBC re-hires Mr Bashir as religious affairs correspondent. He is later promoted to religion editor.

October 2020: Channel 4 documentary alleges there was ‘elaborate plot’ by Mr Bashir to trick Diana into talking.

November 7: The Daily Mail reveals a shocking dossier held by Diana’s brother Earl Spencer revealing alleged royal smears, lies and tricks that Mr Bashir used to land his interview.

November 18: BBC orders six-month inquiry by former judge Lord Dyson.

May 14, 2021: The BBC announces Mr Bashir has quit on health grounds.

Lord Dyson, a former Supreme Court judge, last year condemned his ‘deceitful behaviour’ and detailed how the BBC launched an internal investigation after whistleblowers raised their concerns about the fake bank statements.

The Corporation’s probe was described by the former judge as ‘woefully ineffective’ and the extent of Bashir’s deceit did not emerge until two years ago.

Last year, Prince William urged the BBC and its rivals not to screen the interview again, saying it ‘was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse’. 

Lord Hussey, who lost a leg in the Second World War when he was just 21, was appointed BBC chairman in 1986 and served two full terms before stepping down in 1996.

He was a central figure in the British establishment who did not always see eye to eye with those given the task of running the corporation on a daily basis. 

He was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Oxford, serving in the Grenadier Guards in the Second World War.

In 1944 he was machine-gunned on the beach head at Anzio; one bullet went through his hand, another through his right leg and a third shattered his spine. His leg was amputated in a German casualty station.

After the war he began a long career at Associated Newspapers, rising to the role of managing director.

In 1971 he became managing director and chief executive of The Times, presiding over one of the most turbulent periods in the newspaper’s history as it suffered a crippling year-long strike.

After Margaret Thatcher appointed him chairman of the BBC governors in 1986 his first act was to sack director general Alisdair Milne and replace him with Sir Michael Checkland.

But unhappy with the slow pace of change, Sir Michael was retired early and Lord Hussey turned to Lord Birt to put in place rapid management overhaul.

The changes created massive strife within the BBC, proving hugely unpopular with many of the staff. 

Lord Hussey was, however, widely credited with cutting bureaucracy, making the corporation more accountable and improving the standard of its journalism.

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