Royals at War

by Dylan Howard

  Will he find himself the victim of an “accident” just like Diana’s?

  All of these are clear possibilities.

  It is also outrageous that a man should be telling us—pleading with us, really—to understand his situation in a certain way … and to have the institutions of the world turn a deaf ear. Even if Le Van Thanh wished to tell us the truth, he feels that he cannot. Surely this fuels demands for a new inquest to be opened on the tragic death of Princess Diana.

  That is exactly the feelings of Mohamed Al-Fayed, who through his lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC, told me that if it can now be shown Le Van Than was driving the white Fiat Uno, there is a genuine case to be made to reopen the inquest:

  There is a real question mark here because the French authorities were particularly anxious to ensure that it was blamed to the paparazzi. That’s why they were all arrested to begin with. He [Le Van Thanh] had the car resprayed. It is very suspicious. If it’s him in the tunnel—if it’s his Fiat—whether it was an accident or whether he was trying to get in the way, I have no idea. The Mercedes obviously did hit the Fiat. Whether that was an accident by the driver driving too fast into the tunnel or whether the Fiat Uno was in the wrong lane, I can’t take it beyond that. I don’t know what part the Fiat Uno played other than it obviously had a role as a vehicle that was there. But whether the driver did this deliberately or not obviously, and what his background is, and why, all the rest of these other questions are in the same league as the [James] Andanson story. Witnesses have said it. It’s not contrived. That’s the concrete evidence. What I’m more interested in is the sandwiching of the car. There are other drivers out there that have not been traced.

  Likewise, former BBC royal correspondent Michael D. Cole (who, after leaving the BBC, worked as director of public affairs for Harrods and thus was also a spokesman for its owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed) suggested our remarkable interview with Le Van Than should be passed to British and French authorities as part of a formal request to reopen the Diana inquest as a cold case inquiry.

  He told me: “As a matter of urgency, this information should be conveyed to an officer of the court. If it is reported to the French police or the British police, then there will be the temptation, or the possibility anyway, that somehow the information will be buried. But first of all, Mohamed Al-Fayed needs to know about it, and then the proper authorities need to know about it and then, given the possibility that this gentleman will actually make an affidavit, make a sworn statement, as to what happened to him twenty-one years ago, nearly twenty-two years ago, then other people than me can make a judgment about what to do. But it certainly is prima facie cause for a new thoroughgoing look at what went on, because if this was going on, what else was going on?”

  Whatever the truth behind Diana’s tragic death, there is no doubt that the Princess was fearful for her own life in the months before her death—and in the years after, the lives of her sons, particularly Harry, would be cruelly effected by that fateful night in Paris.

  Members of the Royal Family view a fly-past and a Feu de Joie to mark the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force at Buckingham Palace, London, UK, on July 10, 2018. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex watch the Women’s Final at the Wimbledon Championships, London, UK, on July 14, 2018. (MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  Members of the Royal Family attend Trooping the Colour at Buckingham Palace, London, UK, on June 8, 2019. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  The Cambridge and Sussex families watch as Prince William and Prince Harry take part in the King Power Royal Charity Polo Day for the Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Memorial Polo Trophy at Billingbear Polo Club, Binfield, Berkshire, UK on July 10, 2019. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, attend the European Premiere of The Lion King at the Odeon Leicester Square, London, UK, on July 14, 2019. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, and their baby son Archie meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Desmond on September 25, 2019 (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit the Aga Khan Centre ahead of their Tour to Pakistan in King’s Cross, London, UK, on October 2, 2019. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, visit Canada House to meet the High Commissioner and thank them for the hospitality and support they received during their stay in Canada, in London, UK, on January 7, 2020. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit City Hall in Bradford’s Centenary Square, and meet the people of Bradford in Yorkshire, UK, on January 15, 2020. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit the Mumbles Pier and meet the public in Mumbles, Swansea Bay, Wales, UK, on February 4, 2020. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House, London, UK, on March 5, 2020. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  Members of the Royal Family attend the annual Commonwealth Service, on Commonwealth Day, at Westminster Abbey, London, UK, on March 9, 2020. (James Whatling / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com)

  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are seen in Los Angeles wearing masks as they deliver meals to residents in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple was pictured delivering packages after volunteering with the non-profit organization “Project Angel Food.” The former Duke and Duchess of Sussex were seen linking arms and holding hands after dropping off deliveries to addresses in their new city. (P&P/Rachpoot/MEGA)

  PART THREE

  ROYAL WELCOME FOR THE OTHER WOMAN

  The devastating aftermath of Diana’s death affected William quite differently from Harry. Unlike the impulsive, emotional younger Prince, William buried his feelings deep down—something he had learned to do at an early age. In the months and years following the tragedy, his schooldays proceeded on a more or less even keel, without any serious bad behavior or scandalous episodes on record.

  The calamity precipitated a complete change at the heart of the boys’ lives. Gone was Diana’s world of fun, traumas, frivolity, and dramas—Charles swept the young, traumatized Princes under the protective shield of the Royal Family. They still had their beloved Tiggy Legge-Bourke, the goofy, lovable family friend who was now a much-needed “big sister” to the teenage Princes. It was Tiggy who, the week after Diana’s funeral, shoved William and Harry off on one of their favorite pastimes, following the local Beaufort hunt when it met near their Highgrove home. After a few words of condolence, the huntmaster and the regular participants mounted their horses and took off as usual, accompanied by the stoic Princes.

  While their typical laughing and bantering was absent in those dark weeks in 1997, in many ways, the boys’ behavior in the wake of Diana’s death can be seen to be the making of them. Their bond, already forged during the tumult and pressures of their extraordinary childhoods, became stronger, as they relied on each other for support and understanding. William’s natural resilience developed into an inner core of steel, into which he would retreat, protecting himself from the outside world. During one of his earliest interviews, at Eton, he had discussed how knowing there would one day be a crown on his head added an at-times unbearable pressure on his shoulders. That sense of responsibility, which had been instilled into William from an early age, had already emerged before Diana’s death. He had, on occasion, expressed his disapproval at his mother’s more dramatic public moments and in the aftermath was mindful of his father’s embarrassment at publicly grieving for his beloved “Uncle Dicky,” Lord Mountbatten, who had been murdered in 1979. William, aware that the eyes of the world were on him, channeled his grandparents’ and father’s sense of decorum and duty and never would let the mask
slip.

  At Eton, William’s close-knit group of friends and teachers made sure he was well supported and protected from media intrusion, but when he was home from school, the Prince’s “Glosse Posse” pals—nicknamed after the county of Gloucester, where the boys stayed at their father’s Highgrove estate—haunted the bars and clubs of rural Gloucestershire, behaving like any other group of privileged teens letting off steam. They hung out at the Rattlesnake Bar, where Harry was soon to get spotted allegedly smoking spliffs in a backyard shed, as well as drunkenly making racist comments to a French barman (which was subsequently laughed off by all concerned). William and his mates tended to stick to copious amounts of beer and dad dancing to the bar’s cover band, Nobody’s Business, who churned out easygoing rock and pop covers for the cheery crowd of local yuppies.

  In June 1998, William decided it was time to formally meet the woman he had heard so much about from his mother—most of it decidedly acidic—Camilla Parker Bowles. The Prince of Wales, mindful of the emotional turbulence the boys were coping with in the wake of Diana’s death, left it more or less up to William and Harry to decide when they wanted to meet the woman who was the true love of his life and his intended wife. In any family, such meetings are fraught and emotionally terrifying. It was all the more difficult for the heir to the throne to introduce Camilla to his sons and successors as their stepmother-to-be, especially after the horrendous death of their mother, who hated Mrs. Parker Bowles with justifiable passion. But as Charles’s fiftieth birthday approached, and the boys got busy planning a surprise party for him, the thorny issue of Camilla loomed ever larger.

  Finally, William bit the bullet and asked his father to set up a meeting.

  It went well. Despite reports that Camilla emerged from William’s rooms ashen-faced, reeling, and demanding a stiff drink, it was apparent that the two young Princes had reconciled themselves to the fact that not only was Camilla a nonnegotiable part of their father’s life, but with their tacit approval would be their step-mother at some point in the not-too-distant future. At his fiftieth birthday, with Camilla and her children guests of honor as stars of the British television and theater world entertained the exclusive gathering, Charles’s tears of joy and gratitude for his sons went way beyond their thoughtfulness in arranging the event. He knew that the level-headed William, and by extension Harry, had given his lover the approval she needed to become his wife.

  Meanwhile, William’s amorous exploits had been gaining attention as he progressed through his late teens. Having been something of a heartthrob for years, with his bashful good looks, the Prince was now a strapping young man with an athletic and rugged physique that only made his admirers melt even more. Even during his schooldays, he had enjoyed the reputation of being something of a heartbreaker, albeit involuntarily, thanks to the near-obsessive coverage by the UK media. And the newspapers went into overdrive when the seventeen-year-old Prince was seen enjoying the company of young aristocrat Davina Duckworth Chad on a cruise through the Aegean Sea in 1999. Typically, the pair were distantly related, as Davina’s mother was second cousin to Diana. The pair enjoyed a teenage fling, but it fizzled out of its own accord within months.

  Before long, William had found solace in the arms of Arabella Musgrave, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Major Nicholas Musgrave, manager of the local Cirencester Park Polo Club. At a party at the home of mutual family friends, the Van Cutsems, William uncharacteristically made his feelings very clear, by sneaking upstairs with the pretty brunette hours after meeting her. It was the beginning of what friends recall as an extremely passionate affair. During William’s last summer at home before heading off to university, Arabella was his main preoccupation. As William packed his bags and prepared to head off on his gap year before college, he and Arabella nevertheless agreed to end things, as they both knew life was pulling them in separate directions. For Arabella, it was a journey that eventually saw her assuming the post of chief of PR at Gucci. Meanwhile, for William, the next stop was … a freezing cold beach on the shoreline of Chile.

  WILLIAM WEATHERS THE STORM

  Belize is a former British colony in Central America, a nation that contains some of the most hostile environments in the world. It’s also one of the most awe-inspiring, with the world’s second biggest barrier reef. It was the first stop for William on the gap year he embarked on shortly after leaving Eton (where he achieved a very respectable three A-levels, with an “A” in Geography, “B” in the History of Art, and “C” in Biology). The gap year had emerged, in recent decades, as a rite of passage for youngsters wanting to see a bit of the world under their own steam, before heading back to their books at university. For William, who had been sheltered and fiercely protected from the moment he was born, it was the perfect way to prove to the world and himself that he was capable of standing on his own feet and amply suited for his aspirations for a career in the Army.

  It was grueling. William, in conference with his father and assorted respected elders, including academics, clergy, and military figures, had stipulated that he wanted to challenge himself. A close and trusted protection officer, Mark Dyer, had done some of his military training in Belize and knew that the tough environment would fit William’s needs perfectly. So it happened that William’s gap year began deep in the jungle of Belize in late summer 2000, where he engaged in survival exercises with Dyer’s old regiment, the Welsh Guards. As William sweated in tropical humidity, lived off the land, slept in hammocks, and dodged snakes, poisonous toads, and an array of unfriendly fauna, his cosseted former life quickly became a distant memory. After a short, intense spell in the heart of Belize, he headed to Chile, where he joined a group of youngsters from all sorts of backgrounds, to participate in an eleven-week program.

  According to author Penny Junor, William flew to Santiago knowing hardly any of the people he would be spending the next three months of his life with. Those three months promised to be the hardest of his life.

  The expedition was divided into three sections, an environmental project, a community project, and an adventure. These exercises were merciless—the boys were unleashed to fend for themselves after rudimentary crash courses in local orientation, first aid, and cookery.

  The following weeks were life-changing for the young Prince as he plunged into sailing, trekking, camping, tracking deer for a conservation project, and coping with working as part of a team of boys from diverse backgrounds. One time, William and the boys were marooned on a stormy beach for five days, in torrential rain, forced to sleep side by side under tarpaulins billowing angrily in gale force winds.

  William recalled the traumatic time later on to the press. “That was the lowest point,” he remembered. “I don’t think I’ve ever been as low as that. The moment we got there it started raining, and it didn’t stop raining for five days. We were stuck on the beach. We couldn’t get off because of the weather. There was a howling wind, I think force four or force five, and the waves were too big for the kayaks. It was literally nonstop. You go to bed, you wake up, it’s still raining. We were all soaked through. You go to bed with wet clothes.”

  Another time, when the group was deployed to the tiny village of Tortel deep in the heart of the Chilean countryside, William mucked in and labored on a construction project alongside the other boys. Most of the villagers were unaware that the second in line to the British throne was helping build wooden walkways along the perilous mountainsides or playing with their children in the village school.

  Marie Wright, the project manager in the remote village, told London’s The Telegraph: “If there are any tensions he’s the sort of person who will make a joke and it all settles down again. He’s a real peacemaker among the group if it’s needed. His star quality is that he’s just completely human and normal and one of the gang.”

  Another of the project leaders told the paper, “To me, he’s just an example of a good teenager with a good education and a good sense of humor. He’s treated the same by me. I told him
off within the first ten minutes for being lazy, and after that he got on with it. You can trust him to do a job. Half the time he doesn’t need telling.”

  William was quickly accepted by his peers, despite the fact that many of them came from severely disadvantaged backgrounds, very far from the experiences of the Glosse Posse. One seventeen-year-old boy, a drug user who was homeless in the United Kinddom, said: “Everyone gets on really well and William fits right in. I take the mickey out of him all the time and call him ‘Little Princess.’ He doesn’t mind; he just laughs along with it.”

  The experience was an outstanding success. William had needed to find himself outside of his royal identity, and the hardcore survival course had given him a golden opportunity to survive under extreme conditions as part of a gang, working together without any of the cosseting usually provided a senior Royal. As he boarded his flight home from Chile, just before Christmas 2000, his head banging from the aftereffects of the group’s farewell party the night before, to everyone around him, and probably himself too, William knew that the past three months had transformed him from a shy, bashful teenager into a capable, confident young man.

  THE REIGN DOWN IN AFRICA

  Between South America and his next foreign destination, William steamed ahead, after a day’s chilling with the Glosse Posse and his family. Early in 2001, he was elected to spend a month as a laborer in a Gloucester cattle farm, owned by family friends. Again, William sought anonymity and equality with the rest of the workers, pitching in with the backbreaking daily routine. His days would begin at 4 a.m., with the usual mucking out of the stables, herding and milking cows, and numerous menial tasks that would be handed to any newbie on the farm.