Diana: Story of a Princess - part 2 - first hand accounts of Princess of Wales

by the end of the 1980s and says Diana and Prince Charles led separate lives he spent much of his time with Camilla parker-bowles she had recently ended a three-year love affair with army officer James Hewitt only a handful of people knew about the breakdown of the royal marriage for years they had kept it secret but details would soon appear in newspapers shaking the royal family to the core it has turned out to be an annus horribilis Diana was a single woman in all but name her days were filled with royal duties usually separate from her husband in the autumn of 1989 she began a new relationship within weeks news of it reached the news desk of the son a man had a tape of a conversation that he wanted to sell the deputy editor arranged to meet him in a station car park he came in sat in our car we put the cassette it and listened to it almost mesmerized for 20 minutes or so to my viewers clearly her we have no idea who the man was and the content was absolutely explosive eventually we managed to pin down that the man who was constantly referred to as James on the tape was James Gill be James Gill be of the Gilby gin family had been one of Diana's teenage boyfriends we went to hims his house early one morning and told him we've got a tape which we believe contains conversation private conversation between you in the Princess of Wales in which he repeatedly had called her squidgy and that it's a fairly intimate content at which point he went completely white got his car and drove off the son decided that the story was too explosive to print and lock the tape in a safe but Diana soon learned about it and the threat it posed to her public image she broke contact with Gilby and within a few weeks was back in touch with James Hewitt he was now commanding a squadron of Tanks and just been ordered to the Gulf where war was looming I was in Germany and she suddenly rang me out of the blue she was wondering whether I was going to the Gulf and so I said yes I was and she said she'd like to see me before I went out there so I went and saw her at Highgrove and I stayed the night there say we took up really where we left off without a knife and a bat and then this amazing affair was rekindled really Diana also reestablished contact with James Hewitt's family well I hadn't seen him for several months and as he was coming back to be at Highgrove with Diana she said well let's have mama up then we had wonderful weekend it was so nice to be with them and the boys appeared in their pajamas and their dressing gowns and William actually brought suffering on the tray fours the Hewitt's discovered that Diana had made a big decision I know that Donna did not want to be queen of England I will never be queen she was quite determined she wanted to get out of the marriage so for that reason alone you know she had no desire to agree she didn't want the the artificials of of what she seemed would be inevitable if were she to become queen I think she she wanted to remain herself diana began to plan an end to her marriage her first step concerned money I was introduced to Princess Diana in 1990 by one of her close friends I had done very well for financially and she said she wanted me to look after her financial affairs she wanted to leave the royal family she wanted to leave their advisors she wanted to set up on her own she was thinking of possibly remarrying moving abroad maybe having a couple of children she wanted to have a new life when I went to the desert the affair was conducted with ferocity if you like the nature of the Rasta was the amount of of correspondence and depth of feeling that Tim was being transferred between us she read to me every day I was out there sometimes twice a day James Hewitt's letters were sent to Diana by his mother on one occasion she I don't know why the already being a hold up with the mail I think she probably hadn't heard for a couple of days and she rang me in and I said yes I said letters came this morning please will you read it to me will you well will you read them to me but I can't do that like I can't take your letters please please please he pleaded with me told to read these letters and so I had that say I had Julie open them and read them to her and she was happy and she said that now please please will you post them today today I did of course I will back in London Diana's correspondence caused concern a senior member of the royal household spoke to her about it he told this program I said to her that it wasn't a good idea to write letters to James Hewitt she got upset across diana visited the hewitt family home in devon sometimes if she couldn't stand the stress anymore she would leap into a car sometimes accompanied by her sons or either one or the other and she would drive down just just for the day and obviously it helped she sent me bottles of whiskey and hampers from Fortnum and Mason which has well received and shared amongst my men and she sent out them a parcel of yeah um Playboy magazines they were hugely appreciated throughout this period whatever her private anxieties Diana kept up appearances on a trip to a hospital in Nottingham she bumped into the family of Dean Wood Wood who was in a coma Dean's mum said well my son's in intensive care and Anna said you know do you mind if I come in and Dean's mum says no not at all and yeah he say that I was in a state of shock anyway myself when she walked in as my oh my god I can you feel why would somebody like that come to see somebody like me to come see Joe calmly soon after Dean wouldwould recovered consciousness he got a surprise the receptionist came out and she said Oh Dean there's a phone call for you I said who is it she said it's Diane and I've got a sister Diane and I said I'm telling me didn't have to call back later she went away come back she said oh you can't call back so wenting finished up my dinner went and spoke on the phone and then I said oh hello my dog without a truck yah to me I could talk and and then she said Dino he talking to I said yeah Diane and she said no you're talking to Princess Diana from going into the palace unbelievable in February 1991 James Hewitt led fifteen British tanks into battle for his courage under fire he was mentioned in dispatches he was also mentioned in the news of the world the first I knew about it was you know somebody handing it to me and say you know there's my goodness these were the first details of Diana's love life to be printed in a national newspaper although the paper only hinted at the extent of her relationship with Hewitt I used the army fair - - - ring ring her up she don't worry don't worry I mean it's easier said than done as soon as I got back I went and saw her went and stayed and we didn't really sort of speak too much about it there was too much shells to catch up on after the news of the world scoop Hewitt's every step was dogged by reporters privacy with diana was impossible publicity killed the relationship it was impossible to to carry on as we had been in that environment I tried to contact her and then you know as soon as I realized my calls weren't being returned in it I knew you know had been there before say it was plain to see dianna now faced the risk that too damaging stories about her could be printed more details of her affair with hewitt and the tape of her conversation with james Gilby she set out to tell the world a different story and put her version of her marriage on the record first she planted but she wanted to look as if she was the goody and the royal family were the baddies to tell the world her story Diana turned to a journalist she'd been on friendly terms with for years I vividly remember the first time Tyler and Andrew Morton met was at a cocktail party I think in Spain or somewhere like that and Diana immediately seemed to be interested in him she was toying with his tie and making comments about what a bright pattern it was from then on Andrew always wore loudly patent ties these receptions it was all lively joshing and and very friendly but it gave her an excuse to get close to him she she picked up his tie and pulled him towards her and we're all standing back amazed gobsmacked and the press officer who was standing nearby said God I think I'll have to get a bucket of water and throw over them in 1991 Andrew Morton wrote detailed stories about Diana's marriage they included strong hints about Charles and Camilla and were unusually well sourced for the first time Diana had a voice and Trust was beginning to be built up between myself dialers circle and obliquely Diana herself Martin had grown friendly with one of Diana's closest advisors dr. James Cole first in the spring of 1991 Cole first invited Morton to join him for breakfast over a plate of bacon and eggs in a transport CAF in North Ruislip in North London well away from prying eyes we just chatted about Diana's life Morton had been writing about Diana for some years but colthurst told him details that no journalist had heard before how she would run out of the room and Prince Charles arrived in the room how she was in a bad way mentally and of course the thing which really riled her most of all was that she was living a lie in terms of her marriage and some of her friends really felt that she was on the verge of committing suicide I remember thinking to myself this is walter mitty land morton was already planning to write a book about Diana he and colthurst discussed whether she would give him an interview it was a risky idea Diana liked it but hesitated and so Colter suggested that she consult a friend of his James contest I was a good friend of mine at the time approached me out of the blue and said how'd you fancy doing an astrological reading for dinner and I looked at him with what wanting me a party but now he meant it one afternoon Diana came to James Colver house for the first of two consultations with Felix Lyle Diana was thinking about doing a book basically the revenge of the princess and she wanted some astrological advice on it they were dance and she had serious worries and reservations about it we talked through that we talked about the possibilities and the mudslinging that would come out as a result of it she asked me what what do you think what are the all giri's I said well they're scandal here Neptune was playing devious game and also Pluto was playing a very strong role and so there's complete transformation in a way she felt well if this is what's happening anyhow I might as well facilitate it and we smiled and said well that's it then the book is going ahead and I just think she wanted some form of external confirmation why she saw the stars as having a secret I don't really know if she'd come to somebody like me or others and said do you think we should do the do you think this book is a good idea we would have all said no oh I would have done anyway and that was not what she wanted to hear so she went ahead anyway because she was she was an instinctive creature Andrew Morton sent Diana questions during evenings alone she responded recording her answers on tape her version of her unhappy marriage she accused the royal family of disliking her popularity there was immense jealousy because every single day I was on the front of the newspapers she said she'd spend hours alone wondering where her husband was causing her depression and bulimia I had so many dreams as a young girl that my husband would look after me encouraged me but I didn't get any of that she accused Prince Charles of neglecting her and resuming his affair with Camilla parker-bowles the worst day of my life realizing that Charles had gone back to Camilla no royal writer had ever been handed such material an attack on the character of the future King direct from his future Queen every few days Cole first handed the tapes to Morton and returned with a fresh list of questions he said now got the whole thing rolling the whole thing was rolling the information was being gathered and she gave a lot James was the centerpiece he was the linchpin for the whole thing I mean it was a very slick operation because Morton never had to meet her recording tapes for Andrew Morton was not Diana's only unroyal activity and a car pulled up and that's when it hit me god she's really coming to the house I looked out the window I could see a get out of a Jaguar thinks yeah DX Jess did you come down the drive and then she came in with her arms open give him a mohawk and hello ivy first-name terms hello Harvey hello John Touma dad and then she said oh I'm sorry I'm late and she says to Dean oh it's nice to see you now you've got your clothes on huh so we all had a laugh about that she broke the ice she didn't meet make you feel uncomfortable or anything she'd been there half an hour and outside the play the street was becoming crowded you know word had got round she was shocked to see that because she she didn't come for that she came for me me and my family not papers not cameras not probably I wasn't interested in the Royals but ever since Princess Donna did what she did for me and my family I've not been a royalist but I'm definitely definitely close number one Diana rested there was a Diana wrist definitely the Diana wrists were soon buying copies of The Sunday Times which in June 1992 printed long extracts from Andrew Morton's book supporters of the royal family launched a counter-attack I think the public have been outraged by the intrusive nature of the authors and the journalists concerned Andrew Morton knew that he was on his own Diana would deny helping him she had total utter deniability so that I would take the flack for it it would be my responsibility some of her friends would bear the burden of it as well and that was it and she could then say to the Queen say to Prince Charles say to the Prime Minister nothing to do with me palace officials passed on Diana's denials to the government and the press Morton's book was soon being widely dismissed max Hastings the editor of The Daily Telegraph didn't believe a word of it now we're dealing here with a book by somebody called Andrew Morton whose only credentials is that he was a royal reporter and I'm bound to say that royal reporters if you can't get a job as a pianist in a brothel you become a royal reporter with the book facing ridicule diana decided she must publicly supported she visited one of those whose help Andrew Morton had acknowledged Caroline Bartholomew and someone called the papers I got a phone call saying the Princess of Wales is at Caroline's house carving on a broad flat knee to a short round deal the door opened up sharp on 9 o'clock Diana Steptoe looked up at me kissed Colin both cheeks kissed the baby and kissed campaign's husband looked up to see if I was shooting walked to the car and looked at me all the way up the street the she drove towards me giving me full chance to get more photographs the reason is very simple to show the world that Diana gave support to those friends who stuck their neck out to speak to me it was significant that whoever told me was able to tell me when the Princess of Wales was leaving lots of people know when somebody's arriving someplace it was very difficult to guess when some degree oh I wanna know who fund me I'm not telling you this was the hinge of Diana's life she had publicly endorsed an onslaught on the Prince of Wales she had broken the most basic rule of the monarchy one of the things that really has made the royal family work over so many years is the the discretion and the fact that their friends they never talk to them to the media and their friends never talked with any us surrounded by this this complete wall of loyalty and Trust and to have one of their own members with a regular hotline to Andrew Morton or whoever it was it was was absolutely devastating for them in the book which she had read in draft and approved Diana painted Prince Charles as a selfish lazy man who would rather play polo than spend time with his sons that had spite built into it and I think um I think in some way it satisfied her need for revenge part of me felt a little bit and shamed of that actually and I just felt that maybe I should have rethought my strategy originally as soon as Prince Charles's friends realized they could not dismiss Morton's book as ill-informed they set out to rebut it detail by detail several contacted writer penny Juna I think Morton's book is 100% credible as Diana's version of her story I think it is 50 percent maybe 99 percent inaccurate in terms of of what actually happened dianna later backed away from some of the stories she had told Andrew Morton in particular Morton had published Diana's account of how its Sandringham when three months pregnant with Prince William standing at the top of the wooden staircase she hurled herself to the ground landing in a heap at the bottom there was a part in the book about her trying to commit suicide but she told me that she'd merely slipped and fallen down the stairs and there was no suicide attempt at all I'm sure of that I knew about the throwing down the stairs because I knew someone had witnessed it so I knew that wasn't quite true Diana had launched the first open attack in a war of exaggeration and malice it would soon escalate out of all control as Diana and Charles fired broadsides at each other through the press their supporters tried to find out what might appear next Camilla parker-bowles spoke regularly to the Sun we had a very civilized relationship over the phone we met a couple of times she really became a very very almost like an unofficial adviser if you like our unofficial shield to all the gossip and I think in hindsight and this is not an any kind of insult to her she got as much from me as I got from her because every time I called her I would tell her what you know if you've heard this and this is incredible and she would say no I'd not heard that and then she would say well is totally untrue and of cause everything was totally untrue they were very aware of the rumors that the media had holed up and really what newspapers were contemplating publishing about the marriage in August 1992 Stuart Higgins decided that so much was now known about the problems in Diana's marriage that it was safe to publish her taped conversation with James Gill be he makes my life real real culture apart from some of the material the beginning of the tape which we thought was rather tasteless and offensive we published every word and put it on an eight nine eight number two for people to listen to as well Diana had recorded her story for Andrew Morton partly to limit the damage that Gilby tape could do her and she succeeded in opinion polls her popularity rating remained high the Queen pressed the couple to make a final effort but during an official tour to Korea they made a gloomy pair when they returned it was all over it is announced from Buckingham Palace that with regret The Prince and Princess of Wales have decided to separate their royal highnesses have no plans to divorce and their constitutional positions are unaffected between Charles's friends and Diana's the divided now became total were either in one camp or you were in the other you couldn't really be in both I can think of very few examples of those who were in both and the tendency clearly was to drive the two people at the very center of the drama apart around London's most elegant dinner tables a social war was raging Lord Palumbo had been one of Charles's friends since the prince was 16 but by now he was on the princess's side oh the warfare is total in such circumstance the warfare is very nasty and very deep and very bitter in public terms I was supposed to be a dignified silence but quite cleared the friends that the prince had were very influential had good contacts with the media they took the opportunity to say that this was the princess's fault when I was told one day that the princess is clinically mad and needs treatment princess was unbalanced the princess was this the princess was that she was unstable she was bulimic she was and so on and so forth and similarly damaging things about the Prince of Wales and his relationship with Camilla parker-bowles in the aftermath of Andrew Morton's book newspapers dug up more details about Prince Charles's affair the princes circle issued an absolute denial to the press they are very close but are nothing other than very good friends it is Diana's obsession that makes it sound otherwise but then a man from Chester called the Daily Mirror he too had a tape Sunday night without you all the mirrors publication of this tape proved that Diana's complaint about Camilla was not just an obsession then you realize that actually Diana far from being potty her suspicions were absolutely correct and that they had been arranging these meetings they had been at friends with people that she considered to be friends of her and Charles who were playing a double game but it is highly appropriate that the conference should hear first from turning-points very active and involved patron who will probably not mind if I describe her as one of us a wife and a mother and a daughter and a friend and someone who's known problems in life of her own and has courageously Diana became a symbol of the abused woman who had conquered despair and fought back she addressed women's support groups making speeches that hinted at personal experience as their world closes in on them their self-esteem evaporates into a haze of loneliness and desperation as they retreat further and further from those who could help them the outside world also took Diana's side her solo visits drew far more attention than those of her royal relatives she was incredibly charismatic I defy anybody to say they have met her and not been bowled over by her the charisma that she just oozed although Guyana was semi-detached from the royal family world leaders queued up to receive her and she also charmed big business was one particular case where a multinational who might been trying to court for six years and not been very successful suddenly decided they'd like to support us so she really had the ability to attract ordinary people people who were in positions of authority and the media and that combination was dynamite for charity diana made numerous visits to new york a new favorite city where she was idolized by high society and the glossy magazines ravana fear diana was you know as an icon of a period in time as an international symbol you know the likes of which you get you know maybe three or four times a century nobody knows anything about who does or doesn't sell but when she was alive she sold diana was a superstar who it seemed could connect with anybody she stopped off for a night at the Carlyle Hotel in New York got up to her room when the phone rang and the switchboard said is that the princess wealth yes well there's a man on the phone says he's your husband and says he's calling from a pay phone down the street his name's Charles Windsor since she took the call and she clearly worked out that some enterprising figure on the street had seen her flit from limo to lobby and thought my god was that who I thought it was put through the call and she had apparently a fascinating 40 minute conversation with whoever this was and what she particularly liked and we all laughed about it honestly afterwards was the fact that this guy would then reel into a bar and say you never guess who I've just been talking to on the phone and everyone say yeah yeah and I'm the queen of Sheba Diana's chilly relations with the palace made no difference to her popularity Royal Ascot brought her no invitation and so she drove her son's to Planet Hollywood as her relatives rode in a carriage Dinah upstaged them once again Charles's camp was planning to relaunch the Prince Charles helped reporter Jonathan Dimbleby make a two-and-a-half-hour documentary about him on the night the program was shown on ITV Dinah set her video and went out to a Vanity Fair party at the serpentine gallery in London when her car drew up and she left out of it in the most amazing way and rushed up to me she looked fabulous and I mean nobody's gonna talk about it and I don't think anybody knew what he was gonna say on TV that night Dianna's hosts included a prominent critic of the royal family I went up to be introduced so I said it's delightful to meet you and we Republicans must stick together and she laughed prettily when large men closed in on me and said well enough to me by that and I said well she's done more to bring about a republic by apparently not trying than I ever have by trying and I felt it was any fair to compliment her on it she seemed to get the joke anyway she'd was the life and soul of the party wearing this fabulous dress which everybody noticed but it has occurred to me since that what she was thinking was if I do this right my ghastly hubby's interviewed then will be will not be on page one tomorrow but I will be die knock some dead at serpentine bash thought of headline Diana returned to her video recorder to discover that in front of 14 million viewers Prince Charles had admitted his affair with Camilla parker-bowles Mississauga bells is a great friend of mine and she has been a friend for a very long time and along with a lot of other friends and will continue to be a friend for a very long time did you try to be faithful and honorable to your wife yes until it became irretrievably broken down us both having tried Charles's admission further damaged his popularity diana was still winning the war of the Wales's but her husband's allies were about to launch a counter-attack as a confident stylish princess was conquering the globe in London Prince Charles's friends and allies were describing her quite differently they spoke in particular to two sympathetic writers penny Juna and Jonathan Dimbleby Dimbleby one of Britain's most respected television reporters was now working on a book about Prince Charles a book with impeccable sources Charles's closest friends the friends were very protective of the Prince and very distressed that he had been attacked by Diana when they had seen they had seen the way she had behaved Charles's friends gave Dimbleby dramatic and highly critical accounts of Diana's behavior mostly drawn from the early years of the royal marriage they said she was obsessive frightening and unhinged that she listened at doors and steamed open letters when he was first told about the way Diana behaved I think I think he did think you know I'm being told this by my friends the prince and their this marriage has broken down and and this is just one lot slagging off the other side Charles's friends told Dimbleby that Dinah had shouted and had run out of the room threatened her husband raged at him dimple [ __ ] did eventually come to believe believe what he was hearing Jonathon Dimbleby took his interview notes and consulted medical textbooks there he learnt that the behavior described to him suggested the symptoms of a psychiatric illness called borderline personality disorder in a letter he told the makers of this program I stumbled across the term borderline personality disorder in a variety of psychiatric journals while researching the symptoms of the princess's self acknowledged condition bulimia I discovered that the two disorders are often associated with each other Dimbleby discussed Diana's alleged symptoms with two psychiatrists but he did not reveal that she was the subject of his inquiries one of the psychiatrists was dr. Paul a lad brother of Prince Charles's own private secretary Richard a lad Dimbleby then wrote a chapter for his book arguing that Diana's behavior was indicative of borderline personality disorder but was Diana so serene and accomplished on the international stage really suffering from a mental illness her friends thought not but even they saw that months of open conflict had changed her when she moved out of high grove she found some of Prince Charles's possessions and she had a bonfire and she put them on bonfire she was very vengeful she was very wary of people very wary if you weren't a hundred percent for her at her disposal of the to do what she wanted when she wanted it life could become very difficult Diana parted company with some close allies at this time one was the man who had helped organize Andrew Morton's book James Cole first in the end there was a parting of ways and a painful one so James and became ostracized so became a pariah he said that she used to refer to him as that which i think is a great shame really and the end were a sad story but did Diana's displays of temper and mistrust mean that she was mentally ill when it was published Jonathan Dimbleby 'he's book pointed firmly towards the conclusion that she was her general demeanor seemed like something out of a nightmare beyond all reason and out of control but Dimbleby did not go the whole way after consultations with Prince Charles he deleted all explicit references to borderline personality disorder from his book and he dropped the chapter that focused on the disorder he told this program I came to the conclusion that any conceivable link between bulimia and borderline personality disorder was too speculative but what Dimbleby had begun others would take further penny junuh was one of the first to write in detail about diana and borderline personality disorder Dimbleby helped me come to the come to the syndrome there were there were several people actually who who had mentioned borderline personality disorder Dimbleby was one of them and when I then researched the subject further I mean I discovered that that actually it was absolutely spot-on for the kind of behavior that Diana exhibited a psychiatrist and friend of Diana thinks otherwise in my 32 years as a consultant psychiatrist I've treated many many patients with borderline personality disorder it's a very serious lifelong pervasive condition I met Princess Diana and I spoke to her and she was able to perform extremely well in all areas of her life that the public knew about and my professional opinion is it would not have been possible for her to meet with heads of state to assume all these responsibilities that she did all over the world if she had a serious personality disorder and I'm not a psychologist I just know that she was a very in many ways a very ordinary natural person to be with yes like everybody she had her moments she was upset but she also regarded her work as a job so that for 99 percent of the time she was able to handler and feelings ain't she learned to handle herself and if you gain against the nasty boys you got to learn how to handle yourself but I remember a kind gentle sympathetic loving person who had who was changed by position she found herself in you only have to say somebody's unbalanced or mentally unstable and it's a dreadful thing to say because even if it's not true it sticks another series of newspaper stories added to Diana's problems james hewitt had told his story to the writer of a best-seller called princess in love hewitt had been paid yes i was paid for an interview i regret that very much um I don't see that it makes that much difference whether one was paid or not the fact that I did it at all I regret and it was a mistake had one not made the mistake for all the probability of the right reasons but it was a mistake nevertheless um things would have panned out differently for me I'm sure you know I tried to direct fire situation and it went wrong I don't think it's damaged anybody particularly other than other myself one evening in the autumn of 1995 a camera crew arrived in secret at Kensington Palace for months the papers had been filled with damaging stories about Diana's love life and her state of mind she was beginning to lose public support and so she had decided to use the most powerful medium in the world to settle her conflict with Prince Charles once and for all she won't go quietly that's the problem I'll fight till I end because I believe that I have a role to fulfill and I got two children to bring up do you think mrs. Parker Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage well there were three of us in this marriage so is a bit crowded Diana also responded to her critics in the previous month newspapers had reported that she had made obsessive phone calls to a married art dealer there were also a series of telephone calls which allegedly were made by you to a mr. Oliver [ __ ] did you make what were described as nuisance phone calls I was reputed to have made 300 telephone calls in a very short space time which bearing my lifestyle at that time made me very busy lady um no I didn't I didn't but that again was a huge move to discredit me and very nearly did me in the injustice of it Diana told me that she made probably 3 or 400 telephone calls to Oliver [ __ ] she made them from phone boxes from different addresses she wore disguises to get the phone boxes she wore gloves and she really covered her tracks but she did make the phone calls if he didn't answer the phone she normally put the phone down had you made any of those calls at all I used to yes I had rung up yes once twice three times I don't know a period of 6 to 9 months a few times but certainly I'm not an obsessive manner no she was actually worried that she might be arrested and charged with making nuisance calls the most devastating moment of Diana's interview came when she talked about her husband's future do you think he would wish to begin it was always conflict on that subject with him when we discussed it and I understood that conflict because it's a very demanding role being Prince of Wales but is equally more demanding role being king and being Prince of Wales produces more freedom now being king would be a little bit more suffocating and because I know the character I would think that the top job as I call it would bring enormous limitations to him I don't know whether he could adapt to that it gave ammunition to those people who opposed her unnecessarily good evening so the Princess of Wales does not accuse night had gathered together a group to discuss Diana's interview immediately after it was broadcast she was represented by Antony Holden and Charles by government minister Nicholas Soames one of his closest friends I think we were all in our different ways thinking well she's not gonna say anything very interesting did your relationship go beyond a close friendship yes it did yes wait a minute did she just admitted ultry with Hewitt yes I had told him yes I was in love with him but I was very let down my god of this program for us as for everybody moved into a different stratosphere and when she came up with well I want to be Queen of Hearts I want to be queen of people's hearts Nikki somes by this time getting very indignant said I bet you wrote that Holden and sure he let rip it really is the sort of advanced stages of paranoia so she's made it all up paranoid I've simply an idea but it seems to me that the advanced stage of the paranoia seeing him and hearing him say this publicly I felt was a pretty important development there he was going out on a limb on behalf of his prints seemed to me that this was the endgame never and I think I'm sure that there's people who advising Prince of Wales hello I told you so that's what she's all about after two years of gossip and exaggeration this was the last straw for Diana and Charles divorce was now inevitable the prince has talked me on occasion about what might have been and that prompted me to feel perhaps wrongly there was some hope but unfortunately that wasn't the case the two camps had become so entrenched and so deeply divided and the feelings so bitter that it was not possible to find any common ground in March 1995 Diana enjoyed a long weekend in the French capital we were staying in Paris and Prince William and Prince Harry were there as well and miraculously we remained and observed for two days during which we had a wonderful time because we were able to wander about completely incognito got the Eiffel Tower do all the tourist things that you know everybody does but after two days the press spotted us we were having breakfast at a wonderful shop called doll whale and the princess insisted on sitting in the window and sure enough there were two members of the press outside and she shut the curtains so they couldn't see her and then finally she drew back the curtain so they could see her the sort of cat and mouse Peep Show game that was going on for years Diana had been protected by royal bodyguards but she said she found their presence intrusive and wanted to get rid of them people like me always told her don't be ridiculous look what happened to greet a Garbo you don't wind up in a headscarf hiding in doorways in Manhattan there is no way you know you should not dispense with the protection officer but Diana was determined and so instead of clothes protection she got close-up photography it did get more aggressive for her because there was no one to see Steinbach buys and there was no one with that little hint of authority and a voice to make sure that he didn't Steinbach you have inhibit colorful my god the prices of the pictures was going through the roof if Princess Diana is going to be photographed getting a parking ticket what else can we get so suddenly sitting on the Princess Diana's towel for 24 hours a day seven days a week became very much worth it there was one photographer in particular who used to really speak to the princess in a most appalling way he talked about her as the loon meaning she was crazy the photographer who coined the phrase was Mark Saunders as an endo you would say is it a loony lunch which would mean what's the situations it will clear today or is is she in a bad mood and if the answer was yep it's Looney Looney Tunes that meant keep a low profile it was genuinely a term endearment a laugh and enjoy she got into a taxi and put a head down between her legs and one of the Spanish photographers said why don't you put your head up and start acting like a princess and I myself as photography was there was part of that and that's certainly not something I would look back on with any women is of pride toady else have a nice trip man America was the only place Diana felt safe from press harassment she said she felt at home there and even talked of moving there to live a closest friend Brazilian Lucia flesh at the Lima had left London for America and Diana was a regular visitor I really loved her as a daughter and sure the most wonderful friend to me she brought a lot of joy of light of laughter of dramas into my life she made me feel young again she made me feel her age wheelchair sing flesh Adelina believe diana needed more support in america someone else she could trust over a series of lunches Lucia auditioned a potential confidant for the princess as the period of about nine months Lucia told me quite a few controversial things that people could have solved the tabloids and all sorts of things and I think they tested me discretion and reliability with the main qualities put to the test after that Lucia called me up one day and said would I consent to being the friend of the Princess of Wales and I said to I was deeply deeply honoured and that I would never let her down and that I would be a loyal and terrific friend and always be there for her and she said Lana we know we know an awful lot about you and Diana will be so delighted fashion designer and businesswoman Lana Marx with her Hollywood and White House connections moved in the same circles as Diana and above all she was completely trustworthy I would bring her for lunch and we had a great variety of conversation some of them were very serious and others were just two girlfriends having been to charity event the night before when chatting about who was wearing what and who said what to who and just a load of fun back in London while visiting a friend their patient at the Brompton Hospital Diana met his surgeon hasn't it come he had left his native Pakistan to study under Britain's leading heart specialist Donna told me that Hasnat Khan was a wonderful gentleman who came into her life when she was most vulnerable and needing somebody who could give her security who could help her through this very difficult time when she was breaking up with Prince Charles the doctor hated publicity and Diana went to great lengths to keep their relationship a secret choose to wear disguises used to wear wigs um and they went out all over the country she went out to Ronnie Scott's Club with has Nicole wearing a weight but she wasn't detected some newspapers learned about Diana's secret life but they didn't get the full story there was one particular occasion where she gave an exclusive to the Sunday papers to say that she'd been visiting patients at the Brompton Hospital in fact she hadn't spent the whole evening at the granted hospital she'd spent some of it and has no currents flat and she told me whatever happened to please don't I'm selling about it so when I was asked about it I said that as far as I know she'd spent the whole time in the Brompton Hospital diana was in the midst of difficult divorce negotiations she wanted the press on her side so she hired a media advisor I'm absolutely delighted I think it's going to be very difficult but very good and hard work the situation when I arrived there in general 96 was that most of the journalists themselves didn't believe what she was saying didn't trust you know that the messages that were put out because she had tried to manipulate them too often together Diana and a concern launched a charm offensive on editors and writers chatting with Diana was a revelation because she was very candid surprisingly candid she called Buckingham Palace the leper colony and if you wanted to know what she thought about the Queen Mother she called the Queen Mother the chief leper in the leper colony Diana went beyond nasty nicknames with piggy leg Burke the nanny Prince Charles employed to look after his sons when Tiggy was spotted pouring champagne for Prince William at a school picnic diana instructed her office to brief the press we ran a story about what the princess had said about - you like Burt and the next day she went completely potty and said I never said that her age ring happen they had clearly been told by the princess get on the phone there and give that Higgins blow habala King now and they were in the invidious position of having to say it's that is total inter the princess can't understand why you wrote that you want you know you met her you've seen it nice if it you know you know it's true you told me three months into the job I realized that it was not perhaps as easy as I thought it was going to be my client was far more mercurial than I had thought Dianna's worked with AIDS sufferers had established her reputation as a humanitarian she agreed to open a new AIDS clinic but then she met Aileen Getty the daughter of the American billionaire john paul Getty jr. I got into the department and found a message said that Diana had decided that she was going to bring Aileen getting Hayling Getty was a high-profile American with HIV and AIDS who it just hit London was traveling around every television and radio studio in the capital talking about HIV and AIDS had latched on to Diana Diana was bringing her and Aileen Gettys entourage she threw meetings with a leader she was persuaded that this was a huge opportunity to broaden the objective to draw attention to women and AIDS so I can remember ringing up Jayne Atkinson and going bananas down the faith it's sort of say it's not a zoo you can't she can't just bring all these people in these are patients that we're dealing with and he was very angry and shout at me down the telephone as to how I could have allowed this um what I told him to speak to her directly Diana came on and I said mom listen as far as I'm come or not okay it really doesn't matter but I'm not having you treating us in this way I'm quite happy to call it all off now Oh Michael Michael you must trust me to all be alright you know she arrived and we had got the whole thing worked out Aileen Getty would be sort of taken by one of us sat at the back of this room Diana sitting in the front I got up having sat next darling Diana went like that wailing Getty ailing Getty came from the back of the room to the front of the room the princess motioned Aileen to sit very close to her she held hands are they lean all the way through and that was the photograph that got used this was Diana's last appearance for the charity she had lost the trust of Britain's leading AIDS specialist because she was trying to sort so many other things out in her life she became distracted by that it became very difficult to know that she would deliver on things that you'd asked her to do to be quite honest by the end of her life we hardly asked her to do anything it just wasn't worth it in July 1996 the divorce was settled the removal of Diana's title Her Royal Highness sparked massive press attention a day later she cut her ties with a hundred charities keeping only six Diana had been planning her move for months I don't think that I and her staff ever thought there was a good time for her to do it we always knew that it was going to be a negative media story and she tried I think to do it as a story which would give her some sympathy for losing the HRH title some newspapers followed Diana's line but most didn't she was very angry because it made you had been very negative to her and I explained that I had only answered the questions in a way that we'd agreed and she said that accused me of not doing so and then one of her friends was on the ten o'clock news earlier Diana's close friend Rosa Moncton spoke exclusively to ITN about how the princess was feeling we rang Rosa Moncton and surprisingly said well I'll ring you back I thought oh there's only one thing happening there she must presumably be going to check with the princess she did ring back quite quickly I think it was about 10 minutes quarter of an hour and agreed to do the interview she would like to be much more in the front line I suspect with fewer charities and do a lot more when I rang the princess and asked her she knew her friend was on that news she said um that she didn't know but you got I think I was where you can't always stop your friends talking but then I discovered afterwards her friend had actually talked to the princess about it so it was you know it's impossible for me to do my job in an environment like that and I came quite clearly to see that after only eight months Jayne Atkinson quit the latest in a series of advisers to resign in the face of difficulties at home dianna increasingly turned away from britain both for her personal and her public life she was a fixture on the American charity scene where her presence guaranteed flattering press coverage and huge donations New York society turned out to attend the dinner at which the princess was to receive the humanitarian of the Year award there were any number of celebrities in this town who actually had offered to up their donations I mean there's one gentleman who Alfred to up his donation from he used to buy a $10,000 table at our at our dinner and and asked if he could if he could donate $50,000 but the caveat was that he had to sit next to the princess on the dais which we declined actually the evening wore on and dr. Kissinger gave the princess her award and what she talked about was not herself or the organization but what it meant to be a volunteer I think of the parents who this very night are standing around a hospital bed not knowing if their child will wake in the morning and a woman actually who's sitting in the audience somewhat near me much to my dismay actually yelled out to her where are your children Diana at that moment the hush came over the crowd and she simply looked to the back of the room and said at school even and proceeded to on with the rest of her speech which she got a standing ovation Diana's grace under pressure was one reason she was such a solid-gold fundraiser in a jaded world you're always looking for somebody that that's just trying to go out and make a difference our average dinner probably averaged 1.2 million that night our dinner was 2.2 million dollars and we've never come close to its sense no to I expected dianna could generate charities an extra million dollars an evening but she wanted more an official role she approached the Prime Minister John Major Dianna wanted to be an ambassador for the United Kingdom she invited John Major discuss it with him and he agreed he would be a good idea shortly after their discussion diana attended a meeting of Centrepointe a charity for the homeless to make a speech she had a huge goggle factor you know people would people wanted to see her and that in itself meant that she could head up an organization like Centrepointe I'm appalled at the dangers young people face on the streets and how vulnerable they are to exploitation diana shared the platform with an opposition MP the shadow home secretary Jack Straw she found herself at the center of a political storm it became a huge fear I was talked about in the houses of parliment Adam you know Centrepointe name was weed politicized the royal family apparently by actually getting it to talk about youth homelessness whatever now to our political editor Michael Bronson Michael is there some anxiety that she's something of a loose cannon there's a great division tonight among Tory MPs and among some Labour MPs too and Liberal Democrats as well about exactly how the princess is going to go forward from this point onwards just two days before the Queen had discussed Diana's ambassadorial role with John Major he had to get permission from the royal family and they blocked it and I was there on the morning that she got effects saying that unfortunately she couldn't be an ambassador fidelity and she was absolutely furious she was really really cross she started screaming and said I can't discern why they treat me like this but Diana would not be thwarted when she learned the Red Cross was conducting a worldwide campaign to Ban Landmines she asked if she could visit Angola the most mined country in the world she did call me to say what should she wear I'd say I found that highly amusing even my wife wouldn't ask that question not me but I told her what I was going to wear I mean she no trousers and I don't next shirt and that the staff with me would be wearing the same kind of thing because we were gaining some pretty dirty it in pretty awful places the welcoming party included experienced war reporters I was very cynical about Diana and I thought the trip was important because I'd worked a lot as a correspondent covering the issue of landmines in Mozambique and Angola which her trip was meant to highlight but I just saw it as a big publicity stunt another chance for her to be photographed in front of victims looking beautiful it's an enormous privilege for me to be invited here to Angola in order to assist the Red Cross in its campaign to ban once and for all anti-personnel landmines Diana's call for a worldwide ban upset a member of the British government once again she found herself at the center of a political round now the government ministers home has said you're a loose cannon by supporting this campaign do you have any reaction to that the jeanna are mainly trying to highlight a problem that's going around the world hassle her reaction was really one of astonishment I mean why why is this being said why are people wanting to do this what do I have to do burst into tears am I who said I'm a loose camera if you try and think who in the world would you identify who could give a very simple global message and get people to listen and take notice well I can't think of anybody even now that would did that not a single individual and she did it on that visit without any question whatsoever Diana's visit increased pressure on governments to sign up to a worldwide treaty banning land mines angle is probably one of the few places she could go to and people really had no idea who that she was she went to some of the bedsides and I actually interpreted for her because I speak Portuguese and there was a little girl lying who was clearly in a terrible condition all their insides were hanging out and she caught the attention of Princess Diana who started asking her questions that's right so that's why presumably she's lost on the way she's lost the way because she don't like taking a nutrition thing I think that's enough she she expect after she'd moved on I stayed and just asked the girl a few more questions and she said to me who is that and I said she's a princess from England from far away and she said to me she an angel and I found that really moving this little girl probably died a few hours after that I know she died and it somehow seemed nice that that was the last thing that she saw was this beautiful lady that she thought was an angel she had this kind of aura about her which I have any seen really I would say with Nelson Mandela she somehow managed to transmit to them this feeling of really caring what had happened it didn't seem cynical but Saul once you actually there with her I was very impressed it changed my view of her in May 1997 Diana arrived in Pakistan the trip was ostensibly to visit the Cancer Hospital run by her friend Imran Khan and his British wife Jemima but her real reason was to meet the family of her lover Hasnat Khan I think she would have come anyway but also I think that she felt that it was a good chance good opportunity to meet dr. Hart's family she'd been involved with him for two years and Princess Diana wanted to marry him and she you know she she really she had decided that he was the man but has Nets family were divided and he refused to commit to Diana she went from great joy to great despair sometimes she said oh god it's never gonna work he doesn't wanna see me anymore I had it in my mind that I was going to talk to him because having you know married someone outside my culture maybe you know if if there was something that could be cleared or if there was some advice that could be given maybe I would be able to help but before Imran Khan could act Diana went to San Tropez on the French Riviera she'd been invited to the home of the Egyptian businessman and owner of Harrods department store Mohammed al-fayed he had been refused a British passport and claimed he bribed several British politicians Diana arrived on the 11th of July followed a day later by the press was a dr. Solomon we were all together in same applies all lined up like a photo call just like at the Cannes Festival either gone and in front of us a performance would begin every day at about the same time at about 11 o'clock jaian anthems Diana jumping in the water diving jet skiing in a swimming costume not hiding herself right in front of a cell well the whole thing was just extraordinary I can sort the versatility I've never seen anything like any of you and she came over to our boat determined to have a say I remember she said no photographs no photographs and she said first things along you to be here and told her and she said you know either why live abroad like my boys want me to and I thought God you know we're going to drive this woman away and then she did an amazing thing she went to the edge of the jetty did a most beautiful dive into the sea and swam around laughing and as though she was having a wonderful time it was one of the most bizarre things Dianna's show for the cameras coincided with the 50th birthday party of Camilla parker-bowles Camilla parker-bowles heading for her birthday celebrations at Prince Charles's Highgrove home a party going on now at which there'll be no attempt to keep secret the loving relationship between Charles and Camilla Donna told me at the time that she was really hurting about this it did affect her I think has more to do with her hurting inside and showing that she was having a good time that same day how fired summoned his son to join the princess Dodi al-fayed was a 42 year old part-time Hollywood film producer the photographer's mistook him for a bodyguard in San Tropez one restaurant owner welcomed the group they dia to Maundy party Soph Diana he told me everyone left apart from Diana and her bodyguard II thought they left five or ten minutes later they left holding hands climbed into the car and drove off he's a lot feeling up I said with her bodyguard he said well yes with her bodyguard after all she's a grown woman and if she wants to go out with her bodyguard then she can do as she likes dianna returned home to a watershed meeting with has nicked an Donna told me that her relationship with hasnít Khan was not going to go any further and she said I conscious at home at Kensington Palace Lana and washed the four walls I'm a young person I need to get out at the end of July Diana went back to the Mediterranean only this time she was on her own with Dodi al-fayed here was a gentleman who was giving her a very good time he was attentive she was having a lovely summer in beautiful circumstances in the South of France Dodi al-fayed was was simply a rebound situation calculated I suppose to upset hasnít Khan the person she'd been seeing I think it was simply a summer fling four days into the cruise this photograph was taken someone close to the princess had called a top celebrity photographer Jason Frasor and told him where and with whom she would be after two years of dodging the press with hatton at comm this was one relationship Dyna made no attempt to hide during the cruise diana was called by lana marks they had arranged to go to the Italian lakes together in late August but Lana's father died suddenly I call Diana and told her of my very sad news and that unfortunately I wouldn't be able to go away on vacation with her but this lifter with the free week at the end of her summer and window do a stiff she would come back to the South of France she agreed as diana and dodi cruised around the mediterranean Jason Frasor was once again tipped off about their whereabouts only this time the calls came from Diana herself she asked him are you getting this what did you get just now why the pictures so grainy Diana also called her friends and gave them different accounts of the relationship time to tell me she was very happy with daddy feared I think she felt that she might have found a new family and that something that she was missed family life I think she could have got married and it could have been the fairytale ending and she wanted Diana told me that her summer was coming to an end now and she had asked for an earlier flight back to London to return two days earlier because she'd had enough but Dodi persuaded Diana to stay on and on the 30th of August they flew to Paris the couple spent the day in frenetic car journeys across the city the word was out that the princess was around that's the most aggressive sort of paparazzi word saying throw ball the summer Dodi arranged a romantic night out for the photographers laid siege to his Paris flat and Dodi kept changing his plans when we left that evening we still were suffering care still didn't know the venue that they were leaving to you know tempers were getting a bit short it was very close that somebody was gonna get injured the couple finally decided to dine at the Ritz Hotel owned by Dodi's father the pressure was growing because of the number of paparazzi around Dali was angry the princess was shaken up about the whole thing I think she was crying and I think because she was upset was the main reason why I'd already flushed offers he said how did you like this fiasco huh and I didn't lose my temper but I I told him in the strongest terms that it wouldn't happen if he did tours where we were going Dody brought in a new driver the hotel's deputy head of security Omri Paul Dody planned that they would slip out the back of the hotel unnoticed rig onto the back anims a very happy atmosphere they were laughing and joking we walked out on our rapport words the driver side and change seats with their personable vehicle around according to the subsequent French investigation Omri Paul with drunk the photographers were soon in hot pursuit on RuPaul made a fateful decision he avoided the direct route to dodi's flat instead he accelerated along the Riverside and left the photographers behind he raced into the armored tunnel and lost control at half past midnight the car slammed into a concrete pillar French police say Diana Princess of Wales has been seriously injured and companion Dodi al-fayed Gil 30 and on RuPaul died instantly diana and dodi x' bodyguard Trevor rease-jones were grievously injured the French interior minister and his aide were waiting at the hospital when the ambulance carrying Diana pulled in released him wallabies deco team weather Lord Canterville the minister was on one side and I was on the other we lifted her out we pulled the stretcher out the princess had an oxygen mask on her face and she had bruising under her eyes and at that time of course she was still breathing the mall car at 4:00 in the morning the doctors emerged from the operating theatre AFET tjuku pole caught limb I realized what was happening after two hours Lahaina me the doctors who are trying to revive her the emergency team the heart specialists got normal they came out salty then I knew it was all over Eli did you mean east of him he gave a little sign to the minister and the minister went out I followed him and he said to the minister she is dead Eddie Mota the watch dnews coming up it seemed to straight everybody connected with it I had photographers too stunned to speak on the phone um I had a little girl come in I'd phone someone and got a girl to come and help me under the desk she was useless poor girl just cried for five hours within an hour of Diana's death six photographers had been arrested the story began to combine goes she's been pursued by photographers I feel ill the thought of this I feel guilt endure sadness at Balmoral the royal family were thrown into turmoil I was told by two sources one while one ministerial that there was a tremendous break down between the Charles camp and the Queens camp the Queen did not want Diana's body to go to any royal palace royal chapel she wanted it left at an Undertaker's Charles driven by the boys wanted a proper royal send-off and all the protocol to kick in the whole thing deteriorated into the most appalling slanging match which OnPoint found Charles shouting it's Robert fellows Diana's own brother-in-law the Queen's secretary why don't you just go and impale yourself and here in Flagstaff extraordinary phrase and another royal official saying what would you rather them that she'd be taken away in a Herod's van eight hours after Diana died the royal family set off a Sunday church as always since the divorce Diana's name was left out of the royal prayers outside Buckingham Palace the first signs of the extraordinary public reaction to Diana's death as Prince Charles left for Paris the Queen was still refusing her former daughter-in-law all royal privileges the Rao continued even while Charles was in the air because denied royal protocol he now had to find some way of getting all the things which protocol would normally have provided what kind of a coffin provision of flowers guard of honor flags all the rest of it and he was now having to call on the government and there was effectively an open line from the flight deck to number 10 so select the only thing that mattered to him from start to finish was concerned for the Princess of Wales little details we couldn't find one of her earrings and he kept saying no she can't go without her second earring little things like that or something you could tell he was really really distraught completely shattered personal there was still a round burning as the plane was coming back as to where the body was actually going to go the Queen pretty sure now that she got her way and that it was going to go straight to the Fulham Road Undertaker's had Prince Charles determined to get it to son James's Palace to lie in the Chapel Royal there the government was being asked to provide for both eventualities but in the end Charles got his way you in the streets around the palaces anger was building against the royal family many blame them for expelling Diana the lack of a half-mast flag over Buckingham Palace was taken as a sign of the Queen's unwillingness to mourn now I know it's tradition that their flag flies at Buckingham Palace when only the Royals hear their but I really would like to see the flag flying half-mast there as well I think they treated a terrible absolutely shocking I don't think I don't think that they're the most cold people on this earth a woman came up to me and said oh you're that chaplain the tele can I just tell you this why is it the Queen here that's why I know why isn't the Queen here I think it's disgraceful that they're not here in residence and I think most people I've been speaking to this morning have said exactly the same thing and I I went back to the studio to my ITN studio and told my bosses about all this and their reaction was exactly the same as I know newspaper editors reaction was this is dangerous stuff on Thursday four days after Diana's death newspapers took up the charge there was a meeting to discuss the funeral at which senior police officers were present and royal officials a senior police officer at that meeting I am told expressed the view that Prince of Wales would be booed or worse if he was to turn up in London as such a sensitive time the following day the Queen returned there were real worries according to my ministerial source about what kind of reception the Queen was going to get the worried well things will be thrown that people would jeer or shout or abuse her and so the decision was taken that they should do it as near the gates of Buckingham Palace as possible so that an escape existed if anything went wrong my royal sauce says that even the Queen was worried about what kind of reception she was going to get there was real fear fear that she's never previously experienced in her ray but with the Queen now respond to the people's will first I want to pay tribute to Diana myself she was an exceptional and gifted human being in good times and bad she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness I admired and respected her energy and commitment to others and especially for her devotion to her two boys as the day of the funeral dawned more than a million people lined the route I'm picking my way through these crabs and bumming into this friend of mine new but not seen for a good few months and always thought he was a bit of an aunty royalist really it certainly certainly his position was well you know take it or leave it and you know what's it to me kind of thing and there he was with his mother with a tent you know on the on the pavement keep him out and I'm like you know what are you doing it and he just said well now we had to come and I thought to myself she probably the like that that would have met a smile and finally breaking with royal tradition a flag flew at half-mast over Buckingham Palace all over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity a very British girl who transcended nationality someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate a particular brand of magic the applause which erupted outside Westminster Abbey and quickly spread inside was a reminder that for years Diana had battled against the royal establishment she had at times been vindictive and erratic but millions worldwide mourned Diana for her compassion and her courage qualities which in a short but dazzling life she had so often displayed at their best above all we give thanks for the life of a woman I'm so proud to be able to call my sister the unique the complex the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana whose beauty both internal and external will never be extinguished from our minds

Channel: Public Enquiry

Views: 1,628,723

Keywords: googlevideo, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth, James Hewitt, Prince Charles, Bisexual, homosexual, gay, Camilla, Lady Di

Id: LeRTIETlWSI

Length: 95min 55sec (5755 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 23 2011