I consulted my conscience. Most of the time it was an uncomfortably sensitive instrument, but on this subject it was clear. If I was going to give my account of events – and the idea was now compelling – there was only one answer. I would go to the powers that be, tell them openly about my plans to write a book, point to my unique credentials for the job and ask to be released from my undertaking. I knew the confidentiality clause need not be a blunt instrument. How and if it was applied was a matter of judgement. If it was intended that posterity should have an accurate account of the Princess’s last 10 years, then the judges would presumably be in my favour.
Exploratory talks with the royal solicitors took place. On the matter of confidentiality, it seemed to me that the Princess’s death was a decisive factor, as it had been in my own examination of my justification and motives. The attitude of the Queen was also of critical importance to me. An authorized biography of the Princess was years off, if indeed it would ever be written. Even then it would be the work of an outsider and thus unlikely to capture certain aspects of the subject’s character, however diligent its scholarship.
I could not expect open approval. Acquiescence would be the most I could hope for. I was therefore relieved to be given, on two separate occasions, a clear message from the Queen’s office along the lines, ‘If anyone’s going to do it, it might as well be him.’ In the cause of accuracy, there was an offer of access to relevant papers.
My assumptions about posterity proved naive, however. The Prince’s advisors had other ideas. Since his wife’s death and the disclosures of his equivocal reaction to it, the Prince’s reputation with the public had never been lower. As part of the recovery effort, his office had secretly been assisting with Penny Junor’s book, Charles: Victim or Villain? The implication was that the former label was the correct one, not least given Ms Junor’s disclosure of the Princess’s alleged Borderline Personality Disorder. Any book that might cast doubt on this diagnosis would therefore be unwelcome.
Furthermore, despite the Dimbleby debacle, the Prince’s advisors remained enthusiastic converts to the new doctrine of ‘communications’ and were helping him to map out a complex PR strategy of his own. Its tacit centrepiece was the task of selling Mrs Parker Bowles as an acceptable replacement for the late Princess. This was always going to be a delicate task. The prospect of Jephson barging on to the scene like an unguided missile called for drastic action.
My protests that the proposed book would be balanced and accurate – and therefore presumably welcome to the Prince – fell on deaf ears. Almost immediately a Fleet Street contact passed me a warning. ‘The word’s gone out from the Palace to spoil your Christmas. My paper won’t touch it, but someone else will. Good luck!’ The ever-obliging Richard Kay of the Daily Mail confirmed that I was being targeted for a very public lesson in the hazards of putting my trust in Princes – or at least their spin-doctors.
As predicted, a Sunday tabloid splashed a well-briefed but damning version of my negotiations with St James’s. The hapless reporter who came to doorstep me could not have been plainer. ‘The word is that you’re upsetting people at the Palace. They want your blood.’
Despite their defiant diversity, the royal households always put on a show of unity if one of them perceives an external threat. I was duly hauled before a Star Chamber of exalted Palace officials. My offer to them of the chance to inspect the manuscript could not allay their anxieties about what I might say. Any acquiescence – even encouragement – I had previously sensed from some quarters was now set aside in the cause of royal unity. I was to be gagged, and would I please be a good chap and tie the gag on myself? Or else.
The use of a newspaper story to intimidate me drove any remaining qualms from my conscience. The first shots had been fired and the collateral victims did not live behind palace walls and press secretaries. They became toys on the nursery floor.
This was the enemy in plain view – not the monarchy, but those it shelters, who would exploit the natural loyalty of benignly deferent people and a trusting nation. Their heritage is yesterday’s headlines, their vision goes no further than the next news story, their code is that of political fixers. Unchecked, they will destroy the very consent on which the monarchy depends for survival.
Very well. They could have my blood, if they could get it. They would also get the very best book it was in me to write.
EPILOGUE
JUNE 2000
‘D’you want to see where Di’s buried?’ The words sank in slowly. ‘It’s just over there. Five minutes.’
I waited for the surprise to settle in my chest before I spoke. It was a coincidence. He could have no idea I had any connection with the dead Princess. It was impossible to say no, or even to ask why.
‘OK,’ I said eventually.
‘Make your heading 290. And go down to 3,000 …’
The aeroplane was unfamiliar. I was just getting the feel of the thing and was going nowhere in particular, least of all down memory lane. The man sitting next to me was here to see that I did not make any expensive mistakes. Idle gossip was not his style. And now he had mentioned the Princess. It only goes to show, I thought. That name still means so much to the most unlikely people.
The fields of Northamptonshire rose to meet us as we descended. Soon I recognized the shape of Althorp in the distance. Beyond the house I could see the lake. Suddenly I was back 10 years, seeing the same view from the window of the royal helicopter as we clattered in to land on the broad lawn in front of the house. At my shoulder, my boss was making a joke about her stepmother as we dropped in on her family home on our way to some charity event in the neighbourhood. I was wearing a dinner jacket. My bow tie was too tight. Above the engines I could hear her laugh. You never forgot it.
‘Her grave’s on the island. You can see it.’
Gently, I lowered the wing. A pale dot appeared amongst the green undergrowth on the little island. That must be it. That must be her.
Silence lay over the cockpit. I set the plane into a slow, descending spiral round the island, my wing tip pivoting on the pale stone. Sun streamed through the windscreen.
She had often joked about my fascination with planes. ‘Just going up to the cockpit, Ma’am,’ was a regular excuse to escape a royal compartment grown suddenly tense. On more relaxed occasions, if she was invited on to Concorde’s flight deck she might say, ‘I won’t – but you’ll enjoy it, Patrick. Go on, I’ll be OK.’
I smiled at the memory. It was enough. As if dismissed, I lifted the wing. The island disappeared. For a moment our shadow flew ahead of us over the face of the lake. Then we gathered speed and began to climb again.
PICTURE SECTION
Mercy Dash – visiting a friend dying of AIDS, August 1991.
‘If the cap fits …’ – Pakistan tour
Captain Hewitt.
Returning to England for her father’s funeral, March 1992.
‘The eye of the storm’ – separation day 9th December 1992.
Queen and future queen at Buckingham Palace, November 1993.
‘Time and Space’ – Grosvenor House, 3rd December 1993.
‘Captain’.
Risky pursuit – unguarded in Beauchamp Place.
‘Goodbye to all that’ – with Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell, New York, December 1995.
PICTURE CREDITS
Mercy Dash (PA News)
‘If the cap fits …’ (PA News)
Captain Hewitt (PA News)
Returning to England (PA News)
‘The eye of the storm’ (Rex Features)
Queen and future queen at Buckingham Palace (PA News)
‘Time and Space’ (PA News)
‘Captain’(PA News)
Risky Pursuit (Rex Features)
‘Goodbye to all that’ (Rex Features)
INDEX
The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s se
arch tool to find a specific word or passage.
A
Acland, Ambassador and Lady 163
Adler, Professor Michael 146
AIDS 143–6, 155, 161–2, 172, 181, 235, 173–4, 301, 437, 495, 546
Aiken, Jonathan 335
Airy, Sir Christopher 291–2, 302
Allan, Alex 379, 405
Althorp 217–18, 545, 583–4
Alton Towers 309
Andrew, Prince (Duke of York) 200
Anne, Princess Royal 433
annus horribilis 319–24, 419 II 475
Anson, Charles 406
Apollo 13 (film) 311, 532
Arbiter, Dickie 159, 164–5, 171, 349
Archer, Jeffrey 467, 577
Arethusa (frigate) 6–7
Argentina 433, 526, 538, 540
aromatherapy 119
Ascot Meetings 372
Ashcroft, Michael 272
astrology 120–1, 246, 487
Attenborough, Lord 236, 448
Aylard, Commander Richard
at Prince Charles’s office 58, 132, 135, 140, 292–3, 554
CVO appointment 480
Diana’s equerry 22, 28, 31–5
Dimbleby film 501
PJ’s interview 11–17
Waleses’ estrangement 321, 325, 400, 403, 478
B
Balfour, Arthur, Earl of 106
Balmoral 203, 371, 376, 575
Barnardo’s 204, 452, 511, 550
Barrington, Nicholas 223, 228–30, 234
Bartholemew, Carolyn 358, 361
Barton, Squadron Leader David 262–4, 324, 340
BBC 443–4 see also Panorama
Beckwith-Smith, Anne 11, 14, 17, 18, 38–9, 134, 159–69, 260–4, 291, 384, 538, 554
Belfast Newsletter 365
Bell, Tim 568–9
Bibendum 298
Birkbeck College 448, 471
Birthright 161, 550
Bits and Pieces (ballet) 312
Black, Conrad 444
Blunt, Anthony 35
Bond, Jenny 528–9
Boyd-Carpenter, Henry 399
Branagh, Kenneth 192
Branson, Richard 159, 470
Britannia 183–7, 309, 497
British Council 324
Broadmoor 253, 510
Brooklyn Academy of Music 161, 168–70
Brown, Carolan 119
Brown, Harold 11, 111
Brussels 446
Buckingham Palace 31–6, 401–2, 464–8, 523–4
changing of the guard 567–8
garden parties 103–6
purges 562–3
royal household 34–9
see also Morton
Budapest 191
bulimia see eating disorders
Bush, Barbara 145, 270, 274
Bush, President 274
Butner, Paul 326, 399, 401, 414
C
Cadwallader, Anne 365
Café Royal, 531
Camillagate 379, 412–14
Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament 334
Canterbury, Archbishop of 498
Cardinal Hume Centre 242–7
Carling, Will 532–3
Carstairs hospital 510
Cecconi 298
Centrepoint 363
Chalfont, Lord 336
Chalker, Lynda 414, 416–18, 422, 466, 477, 491
charities 143–8, 152–5, 161–2, 172, 220–1, 235, 310, 344, 380, 437–8, 446, 493, 530, 538, 550, 578
alcohol abuse 147, 236, 376, 426
drug abuse 3, 129, 147, 184–5, 236, 426
homelessness projects 242–7
landmines 147
mental health 147, 235, 426, 510
Charles, Prince of Wales
accession threat 413, 498,
Dimbleby film and book, 429–32, 498–502, 544, 581
and Jephson’s resignation 566
Junor book 581
marriage see Waleses’ estrangement
personality
brooding menace, 92, 109
Camillagate, 379, 412–14
holiday time, 342, 351, 375
humour 91, 98
introspection 142
peevishness 106
public image 331, 362, 367, 371, 412, 502, 581
on royal tours 86–92, 187–8
self-deprecation 12
sense of duty 220, 306
polo injury 268
public engagements
Gulf War, 276, 289
joint 102–114, 216–18
solo 94, 187–9
see also royal visits overseas
public relations 581
SJP apartments 478
SJP offices 19–21, 85, 294, 296–7, 299–300, 340, 413
after Panorama 544–5
attacks media 360
engagements diary 302–9
see also Camillagate; Parker Bowles, Camilla
Charteris, Lord 486
Chirac, Jacques 437
clairvoyance 199–200
Clark, Commander Robin 345
Clarke’s restaurant 298
Clinton, Bill 497
Clinton, Hillary 508
Clover, Revd Brendan 450
Coldhurst, Dr James 240, 358
Concert of Hope 494, 530
Concorde 163, 172, 271–2, 584
Cornish, Francis 161–3, 271
Crawford, Geoff 467–9, 540
D
Daily Express 236, 411, 450, 476, 486
Daily Mail 40, 48, 206, 221, 240, 386, 463, 471, 484, 557, 564
Daily Mirror 365, 499, 564
Daily Telegraph 214, 438, 499, 564, 565
Dando, Jill 180–1
Dartmouth, Raine, Countess of 217, 477, 583
Demarchelier, Patrick 316, 317, 387, 421
Dempster, Nigel 40, 300
Dharan 224
Diana, Her True Story see Morton
Diana, Princess of Wales
as an employer, 16, 52–3, 260–6, 547–9
‘A’ team lunches 297
appreciation 101, 237, 339–40, 383, 470, 480, 491, 508
concern about staff 112, 133–4
contradictory character 141–2, 285–90
engagement diary 302–11
gifts 315–16
list of enemies 140
manipulation 514–15
personal protection team 297–8, 454–5, 458–60, 480–3, 549
plans for the future 263–8
sackings 132–42, 260, 286, 547
shredding techniques 26
spitefulness 549
telephone manner 28–30
see also Legge-Bourke, Tiggy
birthdays 214, 221, 332
Charities Trust 244, 296, 400, 493–4, 528
death of father 331–3
health
colonic irrigation 114
eating habits 50–2, 102, 343, 380, 394, 424–5
hypochondria 122
keep-fit campaign 330, 458, 532–3
lifestyle gurus 119–22, 199–200, 246
mental stability 149, 367, 547–8
physical fitness 121
marriage see Waleses’ estrangement
personality
artistic temperament 312
brutal pragmatism 327
and Camilla Parker Bowles 352
forgivability 137–8
genetic badge of office 128–30
heroic quality 344, 352, 389
humour 9, 15–16, 50, 51–5, 155, 393, 429
hypocrisy 209–11, 549
injustice 320
likened to Boadicea 322, 368
moods 48, 87, 119, 152, 228–31, 367–70, 513, 547
mother of the princes 198, 219–20, 307–10, 420–1, 427–8
obstinacy 321, 333, 513
photo shoots 314–17
power to heal 155–6, 180–1, 245–6
prolific note-writer 237
rejection 143, 148
<
br /> and royal family 53, 199–203, 213–20, 320–1, 354, 371–6
saintliness 578
self-destruction 480–1
spiritual hunger 242–7, 450
unscrupulous 195–201
verbal skills 54–5, 122, 359–60
vulnerability 8, 42–4, 97, 196, 321, 481
portraits 317, 319, 484
and Prince Charles’ personality 92, 95–7, 102, 187, 269, 393
private role
marriage guidance counsellor 281, 320
student demonstration 336
public engagements 43, 59–63
arts patron 310–12
celebrity status 5–6, 156–7, 570
with Charles 102–13
clash of speeches 302–3
clothing allowance 151, 330
compassion 55–8, 61, 144–8, 152, 179, 206, 226, 246, 364
cynical exploitation 147, 202–11, 227, 329
diplomatic events 259
foreign 124–8, 142–3, 156, 225–6, 249
gifts 314–17, 567
leprosy hospital 179–82
loose cannon 234, 351
point scoring 113, 178, 187, 192–4, 251, 269, 364
royal duties 150, 213–18, 241–3, 255, 306–7, 333, 384
speeches 236–7, 278, 301
TLC 145
Vanguard incident 334–8
see also AIDS; charities
romantic life
flirtatiousness 116
gift of earrings 286
marriage see Waleses’ estrangement
search for affection 281
secret meetings 201
vicarious emotions 117, 277–8
see also Carling; Gilbey; Hewitt; Hoare; Squidgygate
separation and after
beginning well 411–17
bulimia speech 425
celebrities 528–33
D–day celebrations 496
death wish 480
demotion 545
Dimbleby film 498–501
foreign trips 521–8
income 419
independent status 371–5, 416, 421–2, 443–7, 450–2, 488–95, 520–1
lack of self–discipline 473, 487, 514, 520
Shadows of a Princess Page 55