Peter Settelen (born 23 September 1951) is a British actor and voice coach, known for helping Princess Diana (1961–1997) improve her public speaking skills.

Peter Settelen
Born (1951-09-23) 23 September 1951 (age 72)
London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Actor, voice coach
Known forHelping Princess Diana improve her public speaking skills

Early life edit

Settelen was born in London. He worked as an actor, including a role in three episodes of the soap opera Coronation Street, and in an episode of Thriller (1975), before becoming a voice coach.[1]

Princess Diana (1961–1997) edit

He was commissioned between 1992 and 1993 to help Princess Diana develop her public speaking voice,[2] having been introduced to her by her personal fitness instructor, Carolan Brown.[1] Settelen videotaped Diana talking about her private life.[2][3] Following her death in 1997, the tapes were seized by the Metropolitan Police in a 2001 raid on the home of Diana's butler, Paul Burrell.[2] Ownership of the tapes was contested by her brother, Lord Charles Spencer, but they were returned to Settelen in 2004.[2] Extracts from the tapes were screened by American broadcaster NBC later the same year, in a programme called Diana Revealed.[1][2] In August 2017, extracts from the tapes were screened by Channel 4 television.[2][4]

Filmography edit

Year Title Role Notes
1975 Public Eye Giles Robinson
1977 A Bridge Too Far Lieutenant Cole
1978 The One and Only Phyllis Dixey Father McGuire TV movie
1978 The Voyage of Charles Darwin Lieutenant Sullivan TV series. 6 episodes
1980 Pride and Prejudice George Wickham
1989 Triangle at Rhodes Douglas Gold Poirot, Season 1, episode 6 (1989)

Bibliography edit

  • Just Talk To Me... from Private Voice to Public Speaker. HarperCollins. 1995. ISBN 9780722530054.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Bloomfield, Steve; Buncombe, Andrew (28 November 2004). "Widow of Diana's minder makes plea to be left alone". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Diana tapes filmed by voice coach to air on Channel 4 documentary". The Guardian. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  3. ^ "Tapes reveal more from Princess Diana". NBC News. 30 November 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Diana: In Her Own Words". 6 August 2017. Channel 4. Retrieved 6 August 2017. {{cite episode}}: Missing or empty |series= (help)

External links edit