Diana's Nightmare - The Family (10 page)

As strict security had been enforced to confine journalists to the far side of a causeway in the northern section of the island, Charles was confident that this much needed break from active royal service would pass peacefully. He was half right.

Travelling with Prince Charles was Chief Inspector Paul Officer of the Royal Protection Squad, who had guarded the Prince on many foreign assignments. A tall, lean vegetarian dedicated to the personal well-being of his royal charge as well as his physical safety, Officer approached Chris Hutchins in the lobby of the Windermere Island Club while checking the identities of guests to ensure that none represented a threat. The writer and the policeman struck up a rapport and agreed to dine together in the club's restaurant that evening, as they did on more than one occasion.

'HRH has a great deal on his mind at present,' Officer ventured over the meal they savoured that first night. He would not elaborate on what precisely it was that preoccupied his employer, but another member of the Brabourne party was more forthcoming: 'Dickie believes that Charles might well fall in love with Amanda on this trip and I think the Prince has a bit of a conscience about that.' The writer, who was acting on a tip-off that 'things were moving on the Charles front', put a question mark besides Amanda's name on his list of 'possibles', but he didn't rule her out entirely. Mountbatten was noted for his cunning.

When Hutchins suffered from a sore throat the next day Officer mentioned it to the Prince, who recommended a herbal remedy he sometimes used himself and which could be bought on the island. On at least two other occasions, Officer greeted Hutchins by announcing: 'HRH wants to know if the medicine is working.' The writer mused aloud that he would appreciate an opportunity to thank His Royal Highness for his consideration. The policeman carefully considered his answer. 'I'm not suggesting anything, but you might like to know that he will be jogging along the beach at six a.m. tomorrow,' he said.

At five a.m. the writer made his way to a point the bodyguard had indicated as Charles's resting place on his morning run. He promptly fell asleep and was awoken by the sound of the Prince's advance along the wet sand. 'He ran a few yards past me and sat down on the beach,' Hutchins recalled. 'He stayed there for almost half an hour just staring out at the wreck of a ship on the shoreline. I did not engage him in conversation because what I saw in front of me was a man who carried the worries of the world on his shoulders. Although we sat so close to each other for so long on such a desolate beach, I left him alone with his thoughts and Officer later told me he had appreciated that.'

If Charles had reflected honestly on the women in his life, he would have had to confess that he was guilty of a particular kind of male chauvinism. 'I've been in love with all sorts of girls,' he admitted frankly on one occasion. 'And I hope to fall in love with lots more.' But he had, he conceded, abdicated the role of royal rake in favour of his younger brother. Charles said that he and Prince Andrew had been walking together when 'a small teeny-bopper - a girl about fifteen - came running up to my brother and said, "Hooray, it's Prince Andrew". I thought, "My days are numbered", and I walked round to the back of the car. Then an elderly lady of about sixty walked up to me and said, "Hooray, it's Prince Charles". So I leave the field to him.' Andrew, hunkier than his brother, needed no encouragement to start accumulating numbers in his little black book.

Having survived the public school system in England, Scotland and Australia with his virginity intact, Charles had found to his relief that his fascination for exciting women was eagerly reciprocated. All he lacked was experience. One of his earliest loves was Lucia Santa Cruz, the daughter of the Chilean ambassador to London. Their dalliance, conducted with the connivance of Lord 'Rab' Butler, master of Trinity College, Cambridge, added lustre to the Prince's studies in kingship. At twenty-three, Lucia was three years older than Charles and she was the first woman to make him conscious of his sexual potential. The shy, Goonish youth parodied as Big Ears quickly learned to stop apologising for what he was and to enjoy the power of being who he was.

After what Lord Butler termed 'the Lucia Experience', Charles put many girls to the test and found that his sexuality was just as much an aphrodisiac as his position, even if some of his conquests regarded
him
as a trophy.

But of all the young women Charles courted in those carefree years, Camilla was the one he couldn't get out of his system. When he visited Rhodesia, Camilla was at hand to welcome him to Salisbury. Her husband had been appointed aide-de-camp to Lord Soames, the last Governor-General before the British colony gained its independence as the Republic of Zimbabwe. Although Camilla spent most of his tour of duty raising their children back in Britain, she managed to turn up in Africa in time for Charles's visit.

Andrew Parker Bowles was almost killed while preparing part of the itinerary. Charles was supposed to ride an African buffalo through the street, rodeo-style, and the intrepid aide decided to road-test the beast to make sure that it was safe. The buffalo, Ziggy, threw him to the ground and badly gored him. During his tour of duty, Parker-Bowles befriended Lord Soames's daughter Charlotte, the disco-loving great-granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill.

On Eleuthra, Charles and Uncle Dickie had faced up to the problem that he had to marry a virginal Protestant of acceptable, if not exactly regal, birth, it's nothing to do with class; it's to do with compatibility,' the Prince said, defensively. Still, he was drastically limited in his choice and the older he became the less chance he seemed to have of finding a suitable partner. 'Marriage is a much more important business than falling in love,' he mused. 'I think one must concentrate on marriage being essentially a question of mutual love and respect for each other, creating a secure family unit in which to bring up children. Essentially, you must be good friends, and love, I'm sure, will grow out of that friendship. I have a particular responsibility to ensure that I make the right decision. Having tried to learn from other people's experiences, other people's mistakes - yes, in one's own family and in other people's - I hope I shall be able to make a reasonable decision and choice.' Sitting on the beach, his knees drawn under his chin, it is possible that his mind turned to jolly, bouncy Diana.

THE unthinkable happened while Charles was enjoying his annual fishing trip with the Tryons at their Icelandic lodge. Mountbatten had been holidaying with his family at his Irish home, Classiebawn Castle, County Sligo. He had been going there for so many years that he had stopped worrying about security. One of his favourite pastimes, much to the delight of his grandchildren, was to catch lobsters in the pots he placed just out to sea. Soon after eleven-thirty a.m. on 27 August, 1979, the Mountbattens were clearing Mullaghmore harbour wall in his thirty-foot boat, Shadow V, to retrieve the night's catch. At that moment, IRA terrorists triggered a fifty- pound bomb on board by remote control. Charles's HGF, who was as old as the century, was killed instantly.

When Charles heard the news at the Tryon chalet, he returned to London dressed sombrely in black - the clothes he always carried with him in case of such an eventuality. As a matter of form, he kept black-edged notepaper with him on which he was able to write letters of condolence to all members of the Mountbatten family. He wept at the funeral.

It does seem a bitter and cruel irony that a man who served in both wars, who was torpedoed, mined and sunk by aerial bombardment, who helped defy the scourge of tyranny and oppression, a man of such passionate concern, should suddenly be blown to bits through the agency of the most cowardly minds imaginable,' he said at a memorial service in St Paul's. 'He was a man for whom blood was thicker than water. He was the centre of the family, a patriarchal figure. I adored him and I miss him so terribly.' It was the most traumatic event in his life.

As gently as he could, Charles had let his great-uncle know on Eleuthera that marriage to Amanda was a non-starter. 'There was a story that Charles sounded her out during that holiday and she replied, "What a funny idea,'" said the Palace insider. 'He had given her a bracelet as a present but all of this was Mountbatten's doing. He knew they weren't in love but he believed that an arranged marriage could work. He even sent Amanda to Paris with the Duchess of Abercorn to spend £3000 on designer clothes.' Sharing their grief, Charles became very close to Amanda after Mountbatten's death, but only as a friend.

'He continued to include Diana in his circle, but there was nothing between them,' said the Palace insider. 'Her youth gave her one distinct advantage: she could move in royal company without attracting attention. People thought she was far too young for him.'

Charles had more wild oats to sow and, in the process, he was confronted with disquieting evidence of his failings. He had met Anna Wallace, the beautiful daughter of a millionaire Scottish landowner, while hunting with the Belvoir on the Duke of Rutland's estate in November 1979. Their affair was so sudden and explosive that Charles was smitten. His usual caution seemed to desert him; it was even said he proposed to her. She was still thinking it over when he squired her into the Queen Mother's eightieth birthday ball at Windsor Castle. Charles felt so sure of himself that he neglected his sweetheart for long periods of the evening while he mingled with his grandmother's guests. The fiery Anna stood there, boiling, until she could take the humiliation no longer. She was not known as Whiplash for nothing. 'Don't ever ignore me like that again,' she chastised him loudly. 'I've never been treated so badly in my life. No one treats me like that - not even you.'

The romance was rekindled after Charles apologised even though it was revealed that two other men had shared her affections before they became an item. This should have ruled her out immediately, but Charles sallied on. Camilla realised he had become besotted, posing a threat to her own privileged position. Anna, she knew, would stand for no nonsense. When Charles brought his loved one to a polo ball at Lord Vestey's home, Stowell Park in Gloucestershire, Camilla worked her magic spell and succeeded in monopolising him to such an extent that Anna stormed out in a fury. As she roared away into the night in a borrowed BMW, Charles and Camilla were locked in each other's arms on the dance floor. 'Was it a set-up? Hard to say,' said the Palace insider, it certainly worked.'

The message Camilla imparted to Charles that night concentrated his mind wonderfully: finding a suitable bride was no longer merely desirable, it was extremely urgent. Charles did the sensible thing. He consulted his grandmother.

The Prince could not have known that a young Chelsea girl had already made up her mind that she was destined to be his bride. In Bahrain, a wealthy Scottish stockbroker, newly returned from a trip to London, told friends eager for news that he had been to St. Paul's Cathedral in the company of Lady Diana Spencer. 'We were walking through the Whispering Gallery when she suddenly turned to me and declared, "One day I'm going to marry Prince Charles in this church".'

'I've got to get it right first time'

Prince Charles

FORTY-EIGHT hours before her apotheosis into a royal goddess, Diana almost called the whole thing off. She was led away from a reception at Buckingham Palace in a state of collapse. It was touch and go whether she would marry Prince Charles at St Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday, 29 July, 1981. The breakdown was kept secret from all but the closest members of Diana's family, who had been among the Queen's guests two nights before the wedding. 'Diana looked ravishing in a red dress, but rather wild,' said Reinhold Bartz, who was married to Diana's cousin Alexandra. 'By eleven p.m., her eyes were swollen as if she had been crying. Then she suddenly disappeared. Apparently, she cracked under the strain. She nearly had a nervous breakdown.'

Diana was immediately driven back to Clarence House, the Queen Mother's home in the Mall, put to bed and expertly nursed through the next twenty-four hours. She recovered in time, but it had been a near miss. Before she had even joined the Royal Family, Diana's nightmare had driven her to the brink. Part of the problem was that Charles had arrived at her by a process of elimination - and it had not been a simple process.

With the encouragement of Camilla and his grandmother he had rung Diana at her new home, a three- bedroom apartment she had just bought for £60,000, 60 Coleherne Court in Brompton Road, Earl's Court. Her three flatmates, Carolyn Pride (later the talkative singer Carolyn Bartholomew), Anne Bolton and Virginia Pitman, longed to meet him once they started dating. Charles, however, wouldn't take the risk of being spotted. To avoid being photographed together, he made her drive herself alone to meet him at secret rendezvous of his choosing. When the relationship became more serious, Stephen Barry drove her to Highgrove several times and returned her to Coleherne Court at daybreak so that it appeared she had spent the night at home, i would frequently collect Lady Diana and whisk her away,' said Barry. 'She would ring and say, "It's Diana". She would give me the address where she could be found and we would drive off for her meeting with the Prince.'

Charles did, however, invite her to watch him play polo for his team, Les Diables Bleus, at Cowdray Park in Sussex. It was after polo one evening that she met a redheaded extrovert who reminded her in some ways of her sister Sarah. This Sarah, however, was called Sarah Margaret Ferguson and they met at the home of her mother and stepfather, Susan and Hector Barrantes. Charles dropped in to talk about polo with Hector, a bear-like Argentinian known as El Gordo who came to England to play for Lord Vestey. Diana started chatting to his stepdaughter.

Wide-eyed at the possibilities, Fergie instantly befriended the newcomer. Her own world was shaping up nicely after the heartbreak of her parents' divorce. She was working as an assistant at Durden-Smith Communications, a public relations outfit based in Knightsbridge. The two trainee Sloanes agreed to meet for coffee (black, no sugar for Fergie; sugarless white for Diana) in the cafeteria of their favourite store, Harvey Nichols. They talked about parents, divorce, men in general, and Prince Charles in particular. There seemed to be a lot of common ground. Fergie, more experienced with the opposite sex, told Diana to stand up for herself. 'She urged Diana to be more assertive,' said a friend. 'She's a great team player like that. Her attitude is, "You do your bit and I'll back you up". Diana liked what she heard.' This was the start of a long, painful journey for both young women.