By Sylvia Hui
LONDON (AP) --A British television channel is broadcasting a new documentary on Princess Diana using controversial videotapes in which she candidly discussed her marital problems and her strained relationship with the royal family.
The recordings of Diana talking to her public speaking coach, Peter Settelen, in the early 1990s included her description of how Queen Elizabeth II reacted when she asked the monarch for advice about her failing marriage with Prince Charles.
"So I went to the top lady, sobbing. And I said 'What do I do? I'm coming to you, what do I do?' And she said 'I don't know what you should do,'" Diana said. "And that was it. And that was help."
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Diana's death in a Paris car crash on Aug. 31, 1997, which was followed by an outpouring of grief in Britain and beyond.
Diana and Charles married in 1981 and divorced in 1996 after having two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. The tapes include her discussing Charles' relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom Charles later married in 2005.
The recordings also show Diana talking about falling "deeply in love" with a man widely believed to be her protection officer, Barry Mannakee, as well as Charles' attempts to woo her during a barbeque in 1979 when she was 18.
Police held some of the videotapes after they were seized in ex-royal butler Paul Burrell's home in 2001. Diana's family tried to make a legal claim to the recordings, but they were returned to Settelen in 2004.
Excerpts of the recordings were aired in the U.S. in 2004 but they have never been screened in Britain. The documentary airs Aug. 6 on Channel 4.
California governor signs law to protect children from social media addiction
California will make it illegal for social media platforms to knowingly provide addictive feeds to children without parental consent beginning in 2027 under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday.
California follows New York state, which passed a law earlier this year allowing parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform's algorithm. Utah has passed laws in recent years aimed at limiting children's access to social media, but they have faced challenges in court.
The California law will take effect in a state home to some of the largest technology companies in the world. Similar proposals have failed to pass in recent years, but Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law in 2022 barring online platforms from using users' personal information in ways that could harm children. It is part of a growing push in states across the country to try to address the impacts of social media on the well-being of children.
"Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children โ isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night," Newsom said in a statement. "With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits."
The law bans platforms from sending notifications without permission from parents to minors between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., and between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays from September through May, when children are typically in school. The legislation also makes platforms set children's accounts to private by default.
Opponents of the legislation say it could inadvertently prevent adults from accessing content if they cannot verify their... Read More