The Royals

by Kitty Kelley

  Daily Telegraph Read by the people who still think it is.

  The Sun Read by the people who do not care who runs the country as long as they have big tits.

  CHAPTER 20

  Articles: Daily Mail, October 22, 1994; People, November 30, 1992, December 6, 1993; the Nation, December 27, 1993; “The Windsor Knot” by Anthony Haden-Guest, New York Observer, May 24, 1993; “The Saddest Man Ever” by Penny Junor, Evening Standard, January 13, 1993; Reuters, March 9, 1996; “Princess bids halo and farewell to her Critics” by Robert Hardman, the Sunday Telegraph, March 7, 1993; the Economist, December 11, 1993.

  Interviews: Peter McKay (November 11, 1993); Geraldine Sharpe-Newton (March 18, 1994); Sheila Hailey (March 18, 1994); confidential interview with lawyer (March 16, 1994); Henry C. Rogers (August 19, 1994); Spencer relative (January 9, 1993).

  CHAPTER 21

  Articles: The Guardian, August 29, 1996; the Daily Telegraph, November 22, 1995; Daily Mail, May– June, 1994, January 11, 1995; Time confidential files: 1991; Daily Telegraph, 1992; the Sunday Times, August 28, 1994; New York Times, William E. Schmidt, August 28, 1994; the Times, October 19, 1994; the Economist, October 22, 1994; Daily News, October 31, 1994; “The Candour Feared by Charles’s Friends” by William Rees-Mogg, the Times, October 17, 1994.

  Interviews: Anthony Holden (April 7, 1994); Jocelyn Gray (May 11, 1993); Victoria Mather’s taped interview with Duchess of York (June 1994); Hoare relative (March 6, 1995); confidential (May 31, 1994); David Cannadine, Smithsonian lecture, December 1, 1994.

  Re: The Britannia as a floating palace:

  “The Queen and Prince Philip used the royal yacht to receive state visitors,” said Philip Benjamin (April 26, 1994), one of twelve sailors assigned to attend the royal family. “The most memorable state visit was from the King of Morocco, who arrived with a trunk full of jewels for the Queen. The trunk was so heavy, it had to be carried by four men. It was heaped with jewels…. I remember a golden camel on a green marble base as big as a chair with palm trees that had coconuts made out of rubies as big as your fist. In addition, the trunk was loaded with diamonds and sapphires and emeralds…. It was a wonder to behold… must have been worth $10 million…. I would’ve been happy to have had just one of those stones. Could’ve lived well for life, I’m sure.

  “The Queen gave the King a signed photograph of herself and Philip in a silver frame. Very little value compared to what they were getting in return, but the Queen didn’t care. She was angry at the King because he arrived late for dinner. She had waited over forty-five minutes for him to come aboard, so she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of being impressed by his gift.

  “We had been warned to know when the Queen was getting irritated. First, she taps her foot and looks around. Then the compact comes out. Those are the first two signs…. At the Palace, she has a buzzer under her desk. If someone bores her, she presses the button, which sets off a very soft alarm outside, and her page steps in to eject the visitor. But we don’t have a buzzer like that aboard the Britannia.

  “During a Saudi Arabian state visit, one of the royal Saudi princes arrived with gold Rolex watches for everyone. The Queen let her own staff accept the watches, but those of us in the Royal Navy had to return them. Again, the Queen’s gift was a picture of herself and Philip in a silver frame….”

  CHAPTER 22

  Articles: Life, April 10, 1950; editorial, New York Times, August 25, 1996; the Economist, November 25, 1995; Press Association, October 16, 1996; Daily Mail, August 20, 1996; “Spy Video Mystery,” Evening Standard, October 8, 1996; “Curse of the Curtsy,” Daily Mail, Edward Pearce, July 19, 1996.

  Re: Diana’s social skills:

  Former White House social secretary Gahl Burt said her husband, Richard, former Ambassador to Germany, was enchanted with the Princess of Wales. He saw her at Washington Post chairman Katharine Graham’s house in October 1994. “Since seeing you last, we had a little girl, who is so beautiful,” he said to Diana.

  “She must have your genes,” replied the Princess flirtatiously.

  Burt told his wife that Diana was the most superb diplomat he had ever encountered.

  Traveling the world on goodwill tours, giving speeches and meeting dignitaries, Diana proved herself to be Britain’s most skilled envoy. She invited Leah Rabin, widow of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to visit her at Kensington Palace. Mrs. Rabin told her, “I feel a great kinship to you because you and I are the two most tragic figures in the world. Except you have a future—and I only have a past.”

  Re: Queen’s gesture to religious denominations:

  While she was applauded for visiting a Roman Catholic church, she was criticized in 1996 for making a speech to the Warsaw parliament in Poland and omitting any mention of how Polish Jews suffered during World War II. Her staff scrambled to rectify the omission, which appeared insensitive and impolitic. “It was due to human error for which the Queen’s advisers take full blame,” said a spokesman. Supposedly the speech was to have contained the sentence “Nor can we ever forget the suffering of the Polish people under Nazi occupation.” Her spokesman said: “The omission of the sentence was entirely unintentional. The Queen had intended to make it.” The courtiers quickly arranged for the Queen to lay a wreath at the Jewish Memorial in Warsaw.

  Her courtiers made sure Her Majesty paid proper tribute to the part Jews played in British life when she welcomed the first president of Israel to make a state visit to Britain in February of 1997. Raising her glass to Ezer Weizman, the Queen ended her speech with one of the most popular Jewish toasts: “Lechayim,” she said. “To life.”

  Re: The Queen’s commitment to the throne:

  She had once considered abdication. In 1965, when Prince Charles was seventeen years old, she met with her advisers to discuss her son’s future. She said she would like to avoid “an Edward VII” situation, referring to her great-grandfather, who inherited the throne from Queen Victoria when he was fifty-nine years old. By then he had spent most of his life sipping Champagne in the arms of his lovers. “It might be wise,” said the Queen, according to her biographer Robert Lacey, “to abdicate when Charles could do better.”

  Her husband joked, “You might be right. The doctors will keep you alive so long.”

  By 1991 the Queen had reconsidered. She told her subjects in her Christmas address to the country: “With your prayers and your help, and the love and support of my family, I shall try and help you in the years to come.”

  She seemed destined to fulfill the prophecy of Sir John Colville, who was private secretary to Winston Churchill and helped train her for the throne: “I believe that the Queen will reign on to celebrate her golden jubilee, fifty years as monarch, in 2002 A.D.”

  EPILOGUE

  Articles: The Sunday Times, September 7, 1997; The New York Times, September 1– 18, 1997; Daily Mail, September 1– 18; November 27, 28 and 29; December 2, 1997; February 16, 1998; The Mail on Sunday, February 8– 15, 1998; The Washington Post, September 1– 12; November 3, 1997; Sunday Independent, September 21, 1997; Associated Press, September 29, 1997; Newsweek, October 27, 1997; Vanity Fair, December 1997; Time, February 16, 1998.

  Re: Michael Cole, the former spokesman for Mohamed al-Fayed:

  Days after this book was published in September 1997, Mr. Cole appeared on CNN and asserted he had not spoken to me. He said he was “astonished” to discover his name in the acknowledgments. Since I had talked to him in London for over twenty minutes on tape, I wrote to him on September 22, 1997:

  “To refresh your memory, we spoke at length on November 15, 1993, when I called you at Harrods. During that conversation, you talked about what happened over your part in the early release of the Queen’s Christmas message on December 17, 1988, and, because of it, how and why you resigned from the BBC. We also discussed various press secretaries to the Queen and royal correspondents, etc. You were forthright in your opinions about all things pertaining to royalty and you asked me to ca
ll you on my next trip to London so we could have tea and talk further. The tapes of that conversation are with my lawyers, and I’m enclosing a copy of the letter I sent you on March 5, 1994, proposing that we speak again.”

  Cole did not respond to my 1997 letter but again went on television to deny talking to me. So my literary agent gave the tape of my interview with Michael Cole to a reporter. “Kitty Kelley is not in the business of releasing details of interviews with sources,” said Wayne S. Kabak of the William Morris Agency, “but felt she had to in this case to prove she was right and Mr. Cole was wrong.”

  A reporter from The People in London contacted the al-Fayed spokesman. Cole denied again that he had been interviewed by me. When the reporter played the tape, Cole admitted he had talked to me. The reporter said he was writing a story about the incident.

  “You won’t make it come out too nasty, will you?” Cole asked. “I’ve got enough problems at the moment.”

  On February 20, 1998, Michael Cole, fifty-five, quit his job as the public face of Harrods. After ten years as spokesman for Mohamed al-Fayed, Cole said he was taking early retirement. He admitted he had become the “lightning conductor” as claim followed counter-claim about what really happened the night Diana and Dodi were killed in Paris. Michael Cole told the press he was leaving his job with “great sadness.”

  AFTERWORD: The Monarchy and the Millennium

  Documents: Transcript, “The Panorama Interview” (November 1995), www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/diana/panorama.html; “Report to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales” (re rape accusation, Burrell trial, bribes, and tax fraud) by Sir Michael Peat and Edmund Lawson QC, March 13, 2003, www.princeofwales.org.uk/content/documents/peat_report.pdf; Transcripts, “Coroner’s Inquests into the Deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Mr. Dodi Al-Fayed,” September 17, 2007, to April 7, 2008, www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk/hearing_transcripts/index.htm.

  Articles: “My Husband Is Planning an Accident” by Jane Kerr, Mirror, January 6, 2004; “Diana Trysts Were ‘Dates’ with Death” by Dareh Gregorain, New York Post, October 3, 1999; “Silent No More” by Jill Smolowe, People, March 20, 2000; “Publishing Shocker” by Doreen Carvajal, New York Times, March 13, 2000; “Dark Side of Diana Described by Ex-Aide” by Stephen Bates, Guardian, September 25, 2000; “Diana Redux” by Michelle Tauber et al., People, October 9, 2000; “Charles, Earl Spencer” by David Plotz, Slate, September 14, 1997; “The Aristo-Cad” by Geoffrey Levy, Daily Mail, June 30, 2008; “Traitor with Two Faces” by Richard Kay and Geoffrey Levy, Daily Mail, October 23, 2003; “ ‘The Princes Are Kept From Me,’ Says Spencer” by Michael Seamark, Daily Mail, July 17, 2002; “Speaking His Mind” by Michelle Tauber et al., People, October 16, 2000; “The Diana Videotapes: The Story She Wanted Told” by Alan Rimmer, Sunday Mirror, March 30, 2003; “Book of the Month,” WWD, August 28, 2002; “Diana Unguarded,” People, September 2, 2002; “A 13M Fiasco” by Richard Pendlebury, Daily Mail, August 22, 2007; “The Betrayal of Diana,” Daily Mail, February 28, 2007; “Princess Margaret Dies,” news.bbc.co.uk, February 9, 2002; “For Margaret, Cremation, as She Wished” by Alan Cowell, New York Times, February 16, 2002; “From St. James Palace to Slough Crematorium” by Alan Hamilton et al., Times, February 13, 2002; “A Letter Unsent, a Royal Marriage Not Made,” New York Times, January 3, 2004; “Peter Townsend Dies at 80” by Sarah Lyall, New York Times, June 21, 1995; “The Unrepentant Lothario: Lord Snowdon and His Insatiable Appetite for Sex” by Anne De Courcy, Daily Mail, June 5, 2008; “Blood Tells, So Does Burke’s” by Mitchell Owens, New York Times, June 27, 1999; “The Furious Spencers” by Ross Benson, Daily Mail, November 6, 2002; “Paul Burrell: A Timeline,” news.bbc.co.uk, November 1, 2002; “Still Looking Out for Diana” by Judy Stoffman, Toronto Star, November 18, 2003; “The Spencers: A Family in Turmoil” by Richard Kay, Daily Mail, November 4, 2002; “Royal Butler Trial Collapses,” news.bbc.co.uk, November 1, 2002; “Could a Tape Destroy the Royal Family?” by Geoffrey Levy and Richard Kay, Daily Mail, October 29, 2003; “Charles Embroiled in Rapidly Growing Sex Scandal” by Anne Oldenburg, USA Today, November 10, 2003; “Paul Burrell: I Lied to Di Inquest” by Emily Smith, Sun, February 18, 2008; “The Call That Left Charles Staggered” by Richard Kay, Daily Mail, June 5, 2000; “Orchestrating Camilla Parker Bowles” by Christopher Mason, New York Times, September 26, 1999; “Brooke Astor’s Prince Charles ‘Mistress’ Crack to Camilla Parker Bowles Proof of Her Own Crack-Up” by Melissa Grace and Corky Siemaszko, New York Daily News, May 19, 2009; “The Kids Will Be There But the Queen to Miss the Big Day,” Gold Coast Bulletin, March 25, 2005; “Charles, Prince of Piffle” by Christopher Hitchens, Slate, June 14, 2010; “Prince Claims to be Defender of All Faiths, Not ‘The’ Faith” by Courtney Lee, Christian Today, June 5, 2006; “Queen Faces Treasury Showdown Over Plan to Keep Spending,” Times, June 30, 2009; “Bush to Charles: We Don’t Want You in the U.S.” by Jonathan Oliver, Mail on Sunday, December 29, 2002; “Welcome to Fortress Britain” by David Williams and Stephen Wright, Daily Mail, November 19, 2003; “Iraqis, U.N. Discuss Elections” by Hamza Hendawi, Washington Post, February 9, 2004; “Prince Charles Enters Axis of Evil,” Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, February 10, 2004; “Prince Charles Visits Pakistan, Calls for Greater Religious Harmony,” International Herald Tribune, November 2, 2006; “The End of the Royal Affair” by Glenn Frankel, Washington Post, February 11, 2005; “Low Key Wedding a Success” by Caroline Davies, National Post, April 11, 2005; Prince William Graduates from St. Andrew’s University” by Phillippe Naughton, Times, June 23, 2005; “The Leeds Connection” by Richard Hainsworth, Yorkshire Evening Post, Septermber 11, 2006; “Divided by Family Misfortune” by Andrew Pierce, Telegraph, April 16, 2007; “Split with Prince ‘Devastated’ Middleton,” www.cbsnews.com, April 16, 2007; “William’s Girlfriend Despises Nickname,” www.cbsnews.com, January 9, 2009; “Harry ‘Exam’ Cheat Shock” by Patrick McGowan and Robert Jobson, Evening Standard, October 14, 2004; “Prince Harry Sent to Drugs Clinic,” news.bbc .co.uk, January 13, 2002; “Dirty Harry’s Lap Dance” by Jamie Pyatt and Duncan Larcombe, Sun, April 8, 2006; “Prince Harry Tussles with Photographer” by Simon Perry and Stephen M. Silverman, People, October 21, 2004; “Harry Brawls While Wills Drools,” Evening Standard, March 25, 2007; “Prince Wears Nazi Regalia” by Jamie Pyatt and Duncan Larcombe, Sun, January 13, 2005; “I’m Sorry for Wearing Nazi Swastika, Says Harry” by Andrew Pierce, Times, January 13, 2005; “Prince Harry Says Goodbye to Boot Camp,” www.iol.co.za, April 12, 2006; “Prince Harry to Attend Diversity Course” by Jill Lawless, Huffington Post, February 12, 2009; “Prince Harry Video Nasty That Will Spark Outrage” by Robert Jobson and Ryan Sabey, News of the World, January 10, 2009; “Prince Harry Made Racist Remark to Black Comedian,” Huffington Post, February 11, 2009; “Security Concerns as Prince William Picks HSBC” by Miles Costello, Sunday Times, October 10, 2005; “Prince William to Train as Reporter,” Sunday Mirror, March 2, 2008; “Prince William’s ‘£30K Stunt’ as HeLands RAF Helicopter in Kate’s Back Garden” by Rebecca English, Daily Mail, April 20, 2008; “Prince William Flies Back with Dead Soldier Amid Criticism Over ‘PR Exercise’ ” by Alexi Mostrous, Times, April 30, 2008; “Princes Hope Concert Will Polish Diana’s Memory,” Reuters, June 14, 2007; “Harry and William on Africa Trip,” news.bbc.co.uk, June 15, 2010; “Filming of Prince Turns Royal Soap Opera into Media Comedy” by David White, Financial Times (U.S. edition), September 28, 2001; Laura Collins, “Sophie Wessex, Her £1.7M Business Debts—And Why She Won’t Pay,” Daily Mail, July 18, 2009; “Loose Lips,” People, April 23, 2001; “Andrew Said to Me: ‘Tell Him £500,000’; Look After Me and He’ll Look After You” by Mazher Mahmood, News of the World, May 23, 2010.

  Interviews: Correspondence with Graham Smith, Republic Campaign Manager and Executive Officer (May 18, 2006).

  TV: The Oprah Winfrey Show, June 1, 2010.

  Books: The Bodyguard’s Story by Trevor Rees-Jones and Moira Johnston, Warner Books, New York, 2000; Shadows of a Princess by P.
D. Jephson, Harper Torch, New York, 2001; Diana: Closely Guarded Secret by Ken Wharfe and Robert Johnson, Michael O’Mara Books, Ltd., London, 2003; A Royal Duty by Paul Burrell, Signet, New York, 2004.

  Bibliography

  Allison, Ronald, and Sarah Riddell, eds.: The Royal Encyclopedia, 1991.

  Alexandra, Queen of Yugoslavia: Prince Philip, 1959.

  Barker, Malcom: Living with the Queen, 1991.

  Barr, Ann, and Peter York: The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook, 1982.

  Barratt, John, with Jean Ritchie: With the Greatest Respect: The Private Lives of Earl Mountbatten and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, 1991.

  Barry, Stephen: Royal Service, 1983.

  ———: Royal Secrets, 1985.

  Benson, Ross: Charles: The Untold Story, 1993.

  Berry, Wendy: The Housekeeper’s Diary, 1995.

  Betjeman, John: Collected Poems, 1988.

  Birmingham, Stephen: Duchess: The Story of Wallis Windsor, 1981.

  Blackwood, Caroline: The Last of the Duchess, 1995.

  Bloch, Michael: The Secret File of the Duke of Windsor: The Private Papers 1937– 1972, 1988.

  Blundell, Nigel, and Susan Blackhall: Fall of the House of Windsor, 1992.

  Bocca, Geoffrey: Elizabeth and Philip, 1953.

  ———: The Woman Who Would Be Queen, 1954.

  Boothroyd, Basil: Philip: An Informal Biography, 1971.

  Boston, Ray: The Essential Fleet Street, 1990.

  ———: Chronicle of the Royal Family, 1991.

  Boyle, Andrew: The Climate of Treason, 1979.

  Bradford, Sarah: Elizabeth, 1996.

  ———: The Reluctant King: The Life and Reign of George VI, 1989.

  Brendon, Piers: Our Own Dear Queen, 1986.

  Brough, James: Margaret, The Tragic Princess, 1978.

  Brown, Michele: Prince Charles, 1980.