The BBC has donated £1.42 million of sales made from the 1995 Panorama interview with Princess Diana to charities connected to her.

The broadcaster said the amount will be shared equally between seven charities linked to the Princess of Wales.

Proceeds went to Centrepoint, English National Ballet, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, The Leprosy Mission, National Aids Trust, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and The Diana Award.

It comes after the BBC issued an apology about how the interview was secured after a report by Lord Dyson concluded that the BBC covered up “deceitful behaviour” by interviewer Martin Bashir.

The programme made global headlines as the princess spoke openly about her marriage to the Prince of Wales.

In a reference to Charles’ now wife Camilla, she famously told Mr Bashir “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”.

In July this year, the BBC vowed to “never” again broadcast clips from the interview.

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The broadcaster said in a statement today: “The BBC had indicated its intention to donate to charity the sales proceeds derived from the 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

“The BBC has now done so.

“Given the findings of Lord Dyson, we think this is the right and appropriate course of action.”

The donations come from the BBC’s commercial revenue and not from the licence fee, the corporation said.

Director-general Tim Davie said: “Now we know about the shocking way that the interview was obtained, I have decided that the BBC will never show the programme again, nor will we license it in whole or part to other broadcasters.

“It does of course remain part of the historical record and there may be occasions in the future when it will be justified for the BBC to use short extracts for journalistic purposes, but these will be few and far between and will need to be agreed at executive committee level and set in the full context of what we now know about the way the interview was obtained.

“I would urge others to exercise similar restraint.”

The BBC has made the donations months after agreeing to pay “substantial” damages to Princes William and Harry’s former nanny over “false and malicious” claims that she had an affair with Prince Charles and terminated a pregnancy.

Mr Bashir is alleged to have lied about Alexandra Pettifer to Diana’s brother Earl Spencer in order to secure the bombshell Panorama interview.

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