Diana's Nightmare - The Family (50 page)

The stylish event had been organised with almost military attention to detail by Rosa Monckton, Tiffany's managing director and wife of the
Spectator
editor, Dominic Lawson. Rosa had promised her royal guest that no one, not even key members of her staff, would be warned that she was coming.

Clearly having decided that this birthay was a milestone in her new life, Diana was cramming high-society events in between her official duties. She was sending signals to anyone who cared to notice that even a novice Mother Teresa could also enjoy the finer things that life had to offer. Earlier in the day she had led local dignitaries through the narrow alleys of the Ely housing estate in Cardiff to open a new playground and, aware that feelings were running high about a local man murdered by vandals, she had instructed a policewoman to place a bouquet of flowers at the spot where the tragedy occurred. The Work done, Diana had transformed herself for the Tiffany's bash, where she greeted old chums in a voice that showed none of the exaggerated inflections she had mastered for her public speaking.

Rosa, whose grandfather, the first Viscount Monckton, had drafted King Edward VIII's abdication speech and actually led him to the microphone to make it, remained constantly at her side. But she gave no sign that she was in the company of one who some considered a royal outcast. On the contrary, Rosa was noticeably proud that Diana saw her as a close and trusted friend.

A winning smile on her face, the Princess towered over the diminutive Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten as his daughter Laura bowed her head and curtsied low between showcases displaying life's greater luxuries. Pausing on the stairs to take another look at the painted male model, Diana returned to the ground floor, which was now seething with anticipation. There she greeted such social luminaries as the actor Derek Nimmo, the actress Sian Phillips, the inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, the Marquess of Blandford's sister Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill and Lady Edith Foxwell. Rosa led the Princess to a screened off area at the back of the salon and when one guest tried to follow, Diana's tall but youthful-looking detective barred the way. it's security, Madam,' explained a member of staff, hastily briefed about what to say. 'Her Royal Highness is wearing an extremely valuable sapphire.' But it was doubtful that Diana's desire for a little privacy had anything to do with the fear of armed robbery. Now that she could establish her own boundaries, she liked some space for herself even in an exclusive setting like Tiffany's.

Behind the screen, Diana set up her court and awaited another royal arrival, Viscount Linley, who pressed through the throng with Lynn Wyatt, mother of Steve, at his side. Her hair smartly coiffed, the blonde Texas rose was a woman whose looks belied her sixty-three years, 'I am very impressed,' she told Linley as she took in the scene. Uncomfortably out of place in dinner jacket and black tie, he guided her past a line of waiters dressed in exotic eastern costumes and bearing bowls of strawberries and cream.

Trailing behind as though she had arrived quite by accident was Princess Margaret's prospective daughter- in-law, Serena Stanhope, so recently a new star in the royal tableau. She clutched at the lapels of her jacket to conceal the plunging neckline of the black cocktail dress she wore beneath it. The future viscountess had been left to find her own way through the partygoers to the screened off VIP suite.

The Ely estate in Cardiff was a world away as, two- by-two, the most celebrated guests were allowed briefly through a gap in the screen to pay homage to the Princess. The chosen few did not include another tall and slim blonde: Cazzy Neville, the girl whose hard work in consoling Prince Andrew over his broken marriage had marked her out as a potential royal rival for a brief time.

Dazzled by Diana's star, few of those assembled at Tiffany's spared a thought for her husband, who had tactfully left town before the birthday celebrations began. He had refused to respond in even the mildest way to the aspersions that had ripped his private world to shreds. His silence baffled and infuriated people who had watched his progress ever since he was born. 'Charles is behaving like a jerk.' Lady Edith Foxwell said bluntly. 'He should stand up and say, "I'm sorry about what happened, but I'm your future King." He has all those advantages, why not get up and say something?'

Through his chink in the parapet near Euston Station, Andrew Morton watched the Prince's movements with professional interest. 'Prince Charles lost a lot of ground both morally and in terms of his popularity with the Camillagate tape,' he said. 'Everything Diana had said to her friends was bloody well right because her suspicions have been vindicated about Camilla. But the strategy of the Prince of Wales camp is absolutely right. They hope that time will heal, that people will forget about it and that people will accept that this was just a late-night conversation between two lovers. That's what they are hoping, obviously, but there are a lot of people who just feel they won't forget about it.'

Frustrated as Charles's friends were by what they regarded as a character assassination carried out with his wife's connivance, they respected his wishes not to answer back in his defence. Serious charges, however, had been levelled against him as a husband, a father and a man, and no account of the tumultuous events of 1992-93 would have been balanced or complete without an honest response from someone who knew the truth as Charles saw it. One of his most intimate friends finally broke ranks to provide some informed guidance. She insisted, however, that she was not speaking at the Prince's instigation in answering a series of key questions put to her by the authors.

Did Diana attempt suicide by throwing herself down a staircase at Sandringham when she was pregnant with William?

'I find it very hard to believe. Has anybody in history taken their own life by falling downstairs? Perhaps there was an attempt to attract attention which would tie in with the way this story was told for publication.'

Did Charles ever produce his diary during their honeymoon, only for photographs of Camilla to fall out in front of Diana?

'Again, you only have her word for it. But it would be so out of character for him that I would be very, very surprised if there was any truth in it. As he was travelling, there is always the possibility that he might have been carrying some pictures of a number of his friends. But I am very, very suspicious about this story, partly because I know that in the time leading up to the marriage and for quite a long time into it he did everything he could to try and make it work.

'Diana, on the other hand, did very little. For example, I learned not only to cook but also to fish so that I could be with my husband during his recreational activities. It's important to do things out of the house and build up the relationship that you had before marriage. You know, you can say, "Isn't that upstream wind a killer?" and you're sharing an experience with your man.

'So I think he tried very hard to include her in many ways and a lot more effort could have been made on her part. If you know that your man likes fishing and shooting, his liking for those things doesn't suddenly end when you walk up the aisle, especially if you've got other responsibilities like he has. It's not enough to just sit round a dinner table chattering - those outdoor activities are very important.

'They are also very private moments. You are not just out of the public eye but out of the house and away from the staff. It's terrific quality time. Standing in a grass butt in the hills for hours waiting for the pheasants to rise is a wonderful time for two people in their kind of position to be together and relax. But she never wanted to be part of that, she made no effort and I find that very sad. Polo, fishing, hunting and shooting are his interests and she always knew that. I haven't seen any marriage work in these circles where the wife hasn't shared the husband's activities.'

Diana has let it be known that her grandmother Lady Fermoy warned her of'difficulties' if she married Charles. Do you know anything of this?

'Lady Fermoy was a very nice lady and of course she might have warned her granddaughter that marrying a man in his position would bring special problems. When Charles asked her to marry him, he said: "You must understand that it will not be an easy life and I must ask you to think very carefully before you give me your answer." But there is no doubt that she'd set her cap at him and she wasn't going to be put off even though it might be for her own good.

'Several years ago Tina Brown wrote an article in
Vanity Fair
which was headlined
THE MOUSE THAT ROARED.
Tina told me at the time that the article would have London in uproar and that her name would be mud for pointing out that Diana was beginning to change. But how right Tina was. It was the first indication that this shy, sweet, gentle girl had changed.'

Diana's friends, talking with her approval, said that Charles used cufflinks with the two letter 'C's intertwined and that they had been a gift from Camilla. Did they ever exist?

'I've certainly never seen them, but if they ever did exist what makes her think they were from Camilla? They could have been his own initial repeated. How did she know they were from Camilla? Did she find a card? Does she go round constantly opening boxes and picking up telephone extensions overhearing conversations? If your paranoia is such that you want to believe bad of someone, you will always find something that confirms your suspicions. She is supposed to have picked up a telephone and heard him talking to Mrs Parker Bowles during a Mediterranean cruise. Well I'm not going to go into details of how their telephones work, but believe me that's just not possible.'

Diana's messengers say that she sees Clarence House as the 'font of all negative comment' and that the Queen Mother drives a wedge between her and the Royal Family. What is your opinion of that?

'Queen Elizabeth is one of the wisest, most intelligent ladies I have ever come across. I know her very, very well and there has been no greater supporter for anyone than she has been. She has always put the monarchy before her own life. Anyone would be very fortunate to have the benefit of her advice, but of course it's no good if you're not going to listen to it.'

Diana is said to have overheard a conversation Charles was conducting from his bathtub in which she claims that he said, 'I will always love you' and that he was talking to Camilla. True or false?

It sounds like the fantasy of an unwell mind. Yet again you only have her word for it.'

Diana is also said to have confronted Camilla at her sister Annabel Elliot's fortieth birthday party and asked her to leave Charles alone. Did it happen ?

'Something did happen that night. I'm sorry, I can't tell you what. We will just have to leave it there, I'm afraid.'

Diana's confidant James Gilbey told Andrew Morton: 'She thinks he is a bad father, a selfish father, he will never compromise. That's why she gets so sad when he gets photographed riding with the children at Sandringham.' What comment would you make on that?

'A classic example of what we are talking about here was the photographs taken of Harry at some car racing event just the other day. The Prince of Wales does not arrange photo calls for the media to show whether he's a good father or not. I think he is an extremely good father. I can tell you that he loves those boys very, very much and in the past he has wanted to spend more time with them than he has been allowed to.'

Is it true that Prince Philip wrote an angry letter to Diana?

'That is nobody else's business. What you have to ask yourself is, "Why has she made this an issue?" What is the point in making public that kind of information?'

Another biographer says that Prince Charles broke down in tears when Camilla's father Bruce Shand gave him a dressing down about their relationship.

'Was the biographer there? To my knowledge Bruce has never said this took place and I find it very hard to believe that a man who has been brought up with such self-control as Charles has would suddenly burst into tears in the manner prescribed. It is highly unlikely to say the least.

The same author claims that Charles and Camilla slept together at Buckingham Palace two nights before he married Diana. True or false?

'I have to reiterate that before and after the marriage, Charles worked at it very hard at making it work and did nothing to endanger it.'

Has Diana ever admitted to Charles that she cooperated with Morton?

'I very much doubt it.'

It would appear that Diana felt the need to get certain things published when she learned that there was a danger that the recording of her intimate telephone conversation with James Gilbey might be made public. What is your reaction?

If that is so, then she obviously felt the need to control what was going on for her own purposes. But to make it appear that Charles was behaving badly at a point when he was doing everything he could to make marriage to her work, is unforgivable. This woman is just trying to create an image for herself at the expense of her husband - it's wicked.

'What makes me cross is that since all the fuss blew up it has been said that there were two camps and this one was saying this and that one was saying that. Those of us close to him said nothing because that was the way he wanted it. He has behaved like a true gentleman.

It doesn't take a genius to see that she has used the media. The obvious example is the way all the newspapers were tipped off that she was going round to Carolyn Bartholomew's house at a time when the book came out. Knowing that there were photographers waiting outside, she gave her that kiss. What greater lengths could you go to in order to sanction all the things that had been said against her husband - in her name - than that?

'He is just not the sort of person to respond to that kind of character assassination. He believes that if you are happy with yourself, satisfied that you have done what you can, then you will be seen for what you are and you don't have to put on an act.'