The Royals Part 26

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Again Diana rang up Richard Kay in dismay. "This is a deliberate attempt to discredit me," she said. She did not deny the therapies or their costs. Rather, she said that "someone" in the Palace wanted to make her look like a New Age flake who had her colon flushed every week because she was obsessed with being thin and didn't have anything better to do with her time or her husband's money. The reporter quoted "a friend of the Princess" as saying: "If the Prince had not treated her so shabbily, she would not have needed to turn to expensive therapists."

Her estranged sister-in-law, the d.u.c.h.ess of York, phoned to commiserate. She, too, felt persecuted by the Palace machine.

"They are out to get us-especially Bellowes," Fergie said, using her nickname for the Queen's private secretary, Sir Robert Fellowes, who was Diana's brother-in-law. "First me, now you.... We're the bad girls and we must be punished."

During her protracted divorce negotiations, Fergie had been accused by the Palace of "insane extravagance" for running up expenses of $3 million. Details of her expenditures-$6,500 for twenty pairs of shoes and $85,000 for twelve dresses-were leaked to the press. After they were published, the Palace announced that the Queen would not pay the d.u.c.h.ess's bills. A spokesman said, "She lives beyond her means-and ours."

Fergie admitted she was "paranoid" about the courtiers. She started carrying a shredder with her wherever she traveled. And she stopped keeping a diary because she was afraid someone might expose her private life. "Andrew used to write me wonderful letters from the s.h.i.+p, but I haven't kept them," she told her friend David Frost, the television interviewer. "I did for a bit, in the bank, but then I thought the bank would be robbed."

Diana, who also used shredders for mail and scramblers on her telephones, subscribed to Fergie's conspiracy theory. She, too, distrusted the courtiers, including her brother-in-law, and believed they were trying to destabilize her. "They think we were crazy to start with," she joked to Fergie, "but we didn't get crazy until we married into this family...."

During their marital separation, both young women consulted psychiatrists, and both were put on antidepressants. Straining under the restrictions of being royal wives, both had taken lovers, who betrayed them for money. Now emotionally fragile and frightened about their future, the two women turned to their astrologers, numerologists, and spiritualists for help. But many of these celebrity-by-a.s.sociation gurus also sold them out. After Diana learned her beautician, her palmist, and her zone therapist were writing books, she stopped seeing them and told friends she could not rely on anyone around her. "She's alone, and she's so lonely," said fifty-three-year-old Lucia Flecha de Lima, who had become close to Diana after her 1991 tour of Brazil. "She doesn't know whom she can trust."

Fergie hired lawyers to stop publication of books by her former chef, her former psychic, and her former lover's business partner. But she was unable to prevent her former butler from selling his recollections of her and John Bryan splas.h.i.+ng in the tub together. "Their lovemaking in the bath was always very noisy," the butler said. "Fergie would squeal her head off."

The d.u.c.h.ess and the Princess later joined forces to fend off the press. No longer members of the royal family or receiving public money, they fought for their privacy. They filed a criminal complaint and sought an injunction against photographers who trespa.s.sed on private property in the French Riviera to take pictures of them on vacation. They hired lawyers to notify Britain's Press Complaints Commission that they would not tolerate further invasions of their privacy, and Diana obtained an injunction against a freelance paparazzo she claimed was stalking her. She filed an affidavit with the court, saying: "He seems to know my every move. I shall suffer undue psychological pressure and become ill."

Feeling betrayed by everyone around them, both women kept track of insults in the press and made lists of reporters who could be trusted-short lists. They phoned each other when negative stories appeared and discussed what to do. Fergie usually chose the direct approach and called the offending writer.

"She rang me from London," said New York Post New York Post columnist Cindy Adams, "to b.i.t.c.h about my saying she'd been late for people her last visit." columnist Cindy Adams, "to b.i.t.c.h about my saying she'd been late for people her last visit."

In that case, the phone call was effective. On her next trip to New York City, the d.u.c.h.ess invited Cindy Adams to tea, and the columnist was elated. She told her readers: "I adored... Her Skinny Highness."

Still, the list of trustworthy reporters was shrinking. Diana, who had once complimented the Daily Mail Daily Mail's Lynda Lee-Potter for her perceptive feature stories, dismissed her as a hack when she said the Princess was addicted to praise.

"She's off the list," said Diana. She also scratched Chrissy Iley of the Manchester Evening News Manchester Evening News for carping about her secret midnight visits to hospitals to comfort the sick and dying. The writer offended Diana by calling her "the super martyr" and "the husband stealer." When Noreen Taylor wrote an essay ent.i.tled, "Diana: A Princess in Love... with Herself," she, too, was dropped from the list of trustworthy reporters. Noreen Taylor had asked readers why, since the breakup of Diana's marriage, she allowed it to be known that she spent most of her Christmas alone. Noting that Diana had a mother, two sisters, a brother, and countless friends, the writer asked, "Is this another cry for attention from a public she believes is besotted by her?" for carping about her secret midnight visits to hospitals to comfort the sick and dying. The writer offended Diana by calling her "the super martyr" and "the husband stealer." When Noreen Taylor wrote an essay ent.i.tled, "Diana: A Princess in Love... with Herself," she, too, was dropped from the list of trustworthy reporters. Noreen Taylor had asked readers why, since the breakup of Diana's marriage, she allowed it to be known that she spent most of her Christmas alone. Noting that Diana had a mother, two sisters, a brother, and countless friends, the writer asked, "Is this another cry for attention from a public she believes is besotted by her?"

Diana called Fergie to complain.

"The women are the worst," moaned Fergie. "They're so b.i.t.c.hy." She made an exception for Ingrid Seward, the editor of Majesty Majesty magazine. "Ingie is okay, and her husband [columnist Ross Benson] is divine looking." Diana did not share Fergie's enthusiasm for Ross Benson because the columnist had declared himself firmly on the side of Charles in the war of the Waleses. She and Fergie agreed that they were much better treated by male writers than the females, except for gossip columnists such as Nigel Dempster. But both Diana and Fergie dismissed him as "an old woman." magazine. "Ingie is okay, and her husband [columnist Ross Benson] is divine looking." Diana did not share Fergie's enthusiasm for Ross Benson because the columnist had declared himself firmly on the side of Charles in the war of the Waleses. She and Fergie agreed that they were much better treated by male writers than the females, except for gossip columnists such as Nigel Dempster. But both Diana and Fergie dismissed him as "an old woman."

When Daily Telegraph Daily Telegraph journalist Victoria Mather described Fergie in one of her "famous rump-straining sad floral prints," Fergie again picked up the phone and protested. journalist Victoria Mather described Fergie in one of her "famous rump-straining sad floral prints," Fergie again picked up the phone and protested.

"This is the d.u.c.h.ess of York," she announced grandly, "and I'd like to talk about your sweeping judgments."

"Good afternoon, Your Highness," said the journalist, switching on her tape recorder.

Fergie asked, "Why did you write such a scathing article?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued: "I understand that journalism-that you have to do your job-but to talk about people's weight... and the size of their backsides and floral dresses... is so below the belt... so pathetic.... I still do so much good work... so much good work.... n.o.body knows the good work I do...."

The reporter listened respectfully as the d.u.c.h.ess sounded ready to duke it out. She carried on for twenty minutes: "In this day and age, when the whole of Bosnia [is filled] with blind children and blind adults and you lower yourself to pull someone apart and [say] she's got a big bottom. I mean it's absolutely farcical... maybe you should come with me to Bosnia... and see then what is the real world and what real life is about. I mean, who cares whether someone is a size fourteen or size eighteen? Absolutely pathetic...."

Fergie cared desperately. She tried everything to lose weight-pills, diets, hypnotism. "I've even switched from white wine to red wine," she told a friend, "so I could cut down on drinking." Finally she sought out an "alternative healer" who gave her a nutritional plan and helped break her addiction to diet pills. After losing forty-two pounds, she emerged from his clinic-a hut in a field in Surrey-and announced her intention to become a professional model. "When I'm thin like this, my legs are better than the Princess of Wales's," she said gleefully. She hired a public relations agency and posed for photographers. Her picture, showing a newly slim and glamorously made up Fergie, appeared on the cover of Paris-Match. Paris-Match. But London's But London's Sunday Times Sunday Times was not impressed: "A little more mascara around the eyes," sniped the paper, "and the Chinese will be sending pandas to London for mating." was not impressed: "A little more mascara around the eyes," sniped the paper, "and the Chinese will be sending pandas to London for mating."

The pounding Fergie took in the press made her defensive and defiant. "They might hate us here," she told Diana, "but they love us in America." Both women enjoyed their trips to the States, where they were treated like royalty, not royal discards. Diana, who appeared regularly in the United Kingdom wearing sweats.h.i.+rts emblazoned with "U.S.A.," skied in Colorado, shopped in New York City, and vacationed on Martha's Vineyard. But Fergie came to the States to prospect for gold.

After selling her Budgie Budgie rights to a consortium in New Jersey for $3 million, she set up a nonprofit charity in Manhattan. With Chances for Children, Inc., she tried to re-create herself as a humanitarian. She said the foundation was designed to give her a philanthropic presence in America. In one year it paid out $89,384 on expenses while disbursing $62,295 to needy children. The bare-bones operation, with its small budget, rented room, and part-time secretary, did not seem designed for substantial fund-raising. But the nonprofit corporation gave Fergie a way-legally-to raise money in the places where she liked to socialize: New York, Connecticut, Florida, and California. She said she enjoyed doing good while doing well. rights to a consortium in New Jersey for $3 million, she set up a nonprofit charity in Manhattan. With Chances for Children, Inc., she tried to re-create herself as a humanitarian. She said the foundation was designed to give her a philanthropic presence in America. In one year it paid out $89,384 on expenses while disbursing $62,295 to needy children. The bare-bones operation, with its small budget, rented room, and part-time secretary, did not seem designed for substantial fund-raising. But the nonprofit corporation gave Fergie a way-legally-to raise money in the places where she liked to socialize: New York, Connecticut, Florida, and California. She said she enjoyed doing good while doing well.

During one of her visits to Greenwich, Connecticut, she appeared at a Champagne reception and dinner for which guests had paid $500. As she worked the room, her three a.s.sistants followed in her wake, toting copies of her book Victoria and Albert: A Family Life at Osborne House. Victoria and Albert: A Family Life at Osborne House. They asked: "Would you like to buy the d.u.c.h.ess's book? It's $100. She'll sign it for you!" They asked: "Would you like to buy the d.u.c.h.ess's book? It's $100. She'll sign it for you!"

Fergie insisted that she needed the money to support herself and her children. As she told the National Press Club in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., "It's rubbish to say that I'm rich.... I can't afford to buy a house.... I rent a pile in Surrey and have to be out with a month's notice.... My husband pays only the school fees. I have to pay everything else.... I'm Her Royal Highness the d.u.c.h.ess of York, but I'm not a millionairess."

She challenged critics who questioned her moneymaking schemes, including her $2 million advance from a U.S. publisher to write a manual for single working mothers. "The facts are that I'm a separated mother of two children and responsible for the finances of my family," she said. "Therefore, a great deal of my time has to be, has to be has to be, occupied with commercial work. Believe it or not, that is the truth."

The unquestionable truth was that Fergie accepted the largesse of rich friends and eager admirers. Her rationale: She said she couldn't pay her own way. So she charged for personal appearances at benefits and theme parks. She picked up $75,000 for flying to Sydney, Australia, to launch Rupert Murdoch's pay-TV network. She flew to Beijing, China, for the opening of an $8 million restaurant because the owner paid her. Diana was more discreet, but she, too, freely accepted the gratuities that came her way as royalty. Both women were friends of the flamboyant founder of the Virgin empire, Richard Branson, and enjoyed free trips on Virgin Atlantic Airways and free holidays at Virgin Hotels, preferring Necker Island in the Caribbean, which cost paying guests $15,000 a week. Fergie and Diana reciprocated by giving Branson their royal endors.e.m.e.nts. They appeared at his openings, posed with him for pictures, and appeared in public wearing his company T-s.h.i.+rts.

Diana's friends, who preferred her a.s.sociation with the saintly Mother Teresa, warned her about the errant d.u.c.h.ess. "Free-loading Fergie is the worst friend you could have," wrote John Junor, but Diana decided that her sister-in-law was her only ally. "She's been over the same course," Diana said of Fergie.

In the past, the two young women had experienced edgy relations. Separated by compet.i.tion and envy, they had avoided each other and sniped to friends about each other. During her taped conversation with James Gilbey, Diana dismissed Fergie as "the redhead" who was trying to cash in on her good image. For her part, Fergie thought Diana's good image was manipulated and undeserved. During her Mt. Everest expedition, the d.u.c.h.ess asked photographers who wanted to take her picture at a marker: "This doesn't look posed, does it? It doesn't look like those Taj Mahal pictures?"

When their marriages broke up, the two young women grabbed on to each other like the only survivors of a s.h.i.+pwreck. Ostracized by the royal family and "outside the net," as Diana put it, they took refuge in each other. They felt that no one else understood their problems as well as they understood each other. They talked constantly about the Palace machine that was grinding them down. They supported each other in standing up to the courtiers who had become their enemies.

After two years of legal separation, both of them could file for divorce, but neither wanted to look like the aggressor in ending her marriage.

"No mileage in it," said Diana, who clung fiercely to her position as a wronged wife.

"Especially without a signed financial," said the pragmatic d.u.c.h.ess, who was calling for a settlement of $10 million. She was also hoping to keep her status as Her Royal Highness. Fergie with no t.i.tle was like Saudi Arabia with no oil.

Diana, too, was determined to hang on to her position, but her lawyers advised her to let Fergie lead the way through the divorce maze. They called the d.u.c.h.ess "the yellow canary" (referring to the bird that miners take underground to check for deadly gas; if the canary keels over, the miners back out of the pit).

Although both women were privately exploring financial settlements, they maintained publicly that they were very much married. "The subject of divorce has never come up between myself and my husband," Diana a.s.sured Richard Kay in the fall of 1995. By then the Princess was struggling to appear virtuous. Branded a home wrecker by Will Carling's wife, she was accused of breaking up the Carlings' marriage of less than a year. "This has happened to her before," said Julia Carling, who looked like a younger, blonder version of Diana, "and you only hope she won't do these things again, but she obviously does. She picked the wrong couple to do it with this time because we can only get stronger."

But within days the Carlings separated, with Julia Carling blaming the Princess. Reacting to reports that her husband had had an affair with Diana, Julia Carling told reporters: "I have always valued my marriage as the most important and sacred part of my life," she said. "It hurts me very much to face losing my husband in a manner which has become outside my control."

Diana's relations.h.i.+p with the rugby captain was headlined in the News of the World News of the World as "Di's Secret Trysts with Carling." So she called Richard Kay. She a.s.sured him that her "innocent friends.h.i.+p" with Carling had started only because of her rugby-mad sons. She summoned the as "Di's Secret Trysts with Carling." So she called Richard Kay. She a.s.sured him that her "innocent friends.h.i.+p" with Carling had started only because of her rugby-mad sons. She summoned the News of the World News of the World's managing editor to Kensington Palace and begged him to lay off. She also contacted the Daily Mirror Daily Mirror and insisted her friends.h.i.+p with Carling was platonic. The paper quoted her as saying, "I don't need a lover." In distress, she phoned her friends-"endlessly," recalled one woman, who finally lost patience with the Princess. Diana also consulted her therapist, Suzie Orbach, who began seeing her on a daily basis. and insisted her friends.h.i.+p with Carling was platonic. The paper quoted her as saying, "I don't need a lover." In distress, she phoned her friends-"endlessly," recalled one woman, who finally lost patience with the Princess. Diana also consulted her therapist, Suzie Orbach, who began seeing her on a daily basis.

"Through these sessions, Her Royal Highness determined to take control of her life," explained a friend who spoke with Diana during this time. The words sounded measured, as if they had been written in advance: "Eventually she desired a respectable forum to demonstrate that she was not deranged or mentally incapacitated.... She felt she needed to answer her critics, reclaim her sanity, and prove her strength...."

Having pleaded for privacy two years earlier, Diana now sought the world stage. She decided the only way she could banish the image of herself as deranged was to give a television interview. She was encouraged by Fergie, one of the few people she confided in, who said that she she had benefited from going on television and admitting her mistakes. So she urged Diana to do the same. Fergie agreed that had benefited from going on television and admitting her mistakes. So she urged Diana to do the same. Fergie agreed that Panorama, Panorama, the award-winning current affairs program, was the proper vehicle to treat her seriously. But she cautioned Diana to keep her plan under wraps, because if the Queen found out, she would put the kibosh on the interview. Diana concurred. the award-winning current affairs program, was the proper vehicle to treat her seriously. But she cautioned Diana to keep her plan under wraps, because if the Queen found out, she would put the kibosh on the interview. Diana concurred.

Coached by her therapist and confident of her telegenic skills, the Princess met secretly with the BBC's Martin Bas.h.i.+r and his camera crew at Kensington Palace on November 5, 1995, to talk about herself, her husband, her marriage, and her life in the royal family. She had not sought permission from the Palace. And she informed the Queen only a few days before the interview was to be aired. The BBC announced its "world exclusive" four hours after playing the National Anthem to celebrate Prince Charles's forty-seventh birthday. Diana's press secretary, who had not known of her plans, was so angry that he resigned the next day. Her private secretary, also unalerted and equally angry, waited a few more weeks to resign. And in a small display of spite, the Queen retaliated the following year by ending the BBC's sixty-year monopoly on carrying her Christmas broadcast. She gave the a.s.signment to the commercial network for two years, after which she said the two networks would alternate the production.

On the night of November 20, 1995, more than twenty-two million Britons gathered in front of their television sets to watch the Princess perform. "And it was a performance," said the royal biographer Penny Junor. "A brilliant performance-totally plausible. Charming, demure, and vulnerable... but a performance-an acting job."

Grid engineers had installed an additional power station to accommodate the expected national surge in electricity after the 9:40 P.M. P.M. program; they estimated the extra megawatts to be the equivalent of three hundred thousand teakettles being plugged in at once. When the show was broadcast worldwide, some two hundred million people in one hundred countries were watching. program; they estimated the extra megawatts to be the equivalent of three hundred thousand teakettles being plugged in at once. When the show was broadcast worldwide, some two hundred million people in one hundred countries were watching.

Calmly and with poise, Diana discussed her postnatal depression, her suicide attempts, her crying jags, and her bulimia. She said she suffered because her husband made her feel useless and unwanted-a total failure. She said he had taken a mistress and then blamed her, his wife, for getting upset. He said she was an embarra.s.sment to the royal family, and his friends, "the establishment that I married into," considered her unstable enough to be committed to a mental inst.i.tution. She said her husband was jealous of her "because I always got more publicity, my work was more, was discussed much more than him." Yet she maintained she did not want a divorce.

She admitted having been unfaithful during her marriage. She denied having affairs with James Gilbey and Oliver h.o.a.re but said she had been in love with James Hewitt. "Yes, I adored him," she said. "But I was very let down." She told the interviewer that she did not tell her children about her affair with Hewitt, but she did tell them about their father's adultery with Camilla Parker Bowles. "But I put it in gently," she said, "without resentment or any anger."

She faulted the press for its intrusions: "I've never encouraged the media. There was a relations.h.i.+p which worked before, but now I can't tolerate it because it's become abusive and it's hara.s.sment."

Conceding she would never become Queen of the country, she asked instead to be a queen of people's hearts. "I'd like to be an amba.s.sador," she said.

The interviewer asked, "On what grounds do you feel that you have the right to think of yourself as an amba.s.sador?"

Diana replied: "I've been in a privileged position for fifteen years. I've got tremendous knowledge about people and know how to communicate, and I want to use it."

Minutes later she was asked whether she thought her husband would ever be King. She raised her kohl-rimmed eyes to the camera and replied, "I don't think any of us know the answer to that. Who knows what fate will produce, who knows what circ.u.mstances will provoke?" She expressed hope that her tormented husband would find peace of mind. Without uttering an unkind word, she questioned his ability to reign. "I would think that the top job, as I call it, would bring enormous limitations to him, and I don't know whether he could adapt." Perhaps, she concluded, because of his "conflict" about becoming King, he should forgo the throne and allow the crown to pa.s.s directly to their son, Prince William, when he comes of age.

"You could almost hear the country's collective gasp," said a television commentator on the late news.

The next morning every one of Britain's newspapers devoted its front page to Diana. Every aspect of the interview was scrutinized: her clothes (tailored navy blazer, opaque black hose), her lighting (harsh), her demeanor (restrained), her vocabulary (impressive, according to Time, Time, which reported she said "albeit" five times and "daunting" or "daunted" fourteen times). which reported she said "albeit" five times and "daunting" or "daunted" fourteen times).

Few people criticized her, but Nicholas Soames, Charles's friend, was outraged. His attack lent credibility to her charges. "The Prince has been wronged," Soames said. He p.r.o.nounced her performance as "toe-curlingly dreadful" and said she was "in the advanced stages of paranoia."

But the working cla.s.ses loved the Princess. The opinion polls showed public support for her running as high as 85 percent. The journalist and historian Paul Johnson declared her a heroine. He forgave her s.e.xual indiscretions because "she was chaste when the Prince began the adultery game." In defense of Diana, he quoted Jane Austen's defense of Queen Caroline, the estranged wife of George IV: "She was bad, but she would not have become as bad as she was if he had not been infinitely worse."

The Charles and Diana camps formed along cla.s.s lines. Elderly Tory squires and Anglican bishops backed the Prince, while a majority of working-cla.s.s people, along with Catholic Church populists, supported the Princess. Emotions on both sides divided the country. And newspapers begged the Prince and Princess to put their marriage out of its misery. Tory members of Parliament beseeched the Prime Minister to consult with the Queen about a divorce. "We've become an international laughing-stock," said one conservative MP. "A spectacle."

Within hours of Diana's interview, Olympus had prepared a full-page ad to promote its new camera. The commercial showed a picture of the Princess perched demurely on her chair in Kensington Palace. The photograph was cropped at the neck. The caption: "Avoid getting your head chopped off by the in-laws this Christmas."

In the United States Omnipoint Communications wanted Diana to launch its new mobile telephone network. "My idea," said the company's president, "is that she will hold a digital phone and declare, 'If I'd had one of these, I could have been Queen.' "

In Norway a condom advertiser featured Diana's picture at the precise moment she confessed to adultery on television. The caption: "It's hard to see on the outside whether someone has had casual s.e.x."

The Queen was ready to listen to her Prime Minister. He arrived for their weekly meeting armed with the support of former Prime Minister James Callaghan and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Prime Minister told the Queen that the uncertainty surrounding the couple's marriage had interfered with the country's business. Britain was losing face, and the monarchy was diminished. "I am only Your Majesty's adviser," John Major said respectfully. Then he recommended that the Queen step into the ring to stop the brawling.

On December 17, 1995, the Queen wrote to Charles and Diana, suggesting that for the sake of their children they resolve their differences "amicably and with civility." She asked them to agree to a divorce and to let her know their decision as soon as possible. She said she looked forward to the family's annual gathering during the Christmas holidays and a.s.sured them both of her personal affection and her continuing support in difficult times. She sent the letters by messenger and, two days later, authorized the Palace to confirm their delivery.

Diana was shocked by the Queen's public disclosure, which she felt was pus.h.i.+ng her into a divorce she did not want. She called her lawyers, who advised her against making an immediate decision. They needed time to negotiate. She angrily canceled plans to join the royal family for Christmas.

Charles responded promptly to his mother's letter and agreed to a divorce, but only on condition that Diana agree, because he did not want a contest. He also declared he would not remarry.

The same day as the Queen's letter arrived, Diana received a letter from lawyers representing Tiggy Legge-Bourke, the young a.s.sistant who planned outings and activities for Wills and Harry. Tiggy sought a retraction of Diana's "false allegations" about her, plus acknowledgment that what Diana had said days earlier during a staff Christmas party was "totally untrue." The Princess had arrived at the Lanesborough Hotel for the annual holiday luncheon for the Waleses' employees. Instead of ignoring Tiggy, who was standing near the entrance, Diana walked over and confronted her.

"So sorry to hear about the baby," Diana said with a sneer.

The young woman was taken aback. Then she realized the taunt was based on gossip that she had become pregnant and had had an abortion. Crushed by Diana's accusation, Tiggy fled to a private room, where she was comforted by Prince Charles's valet. She returned to the party but confided her distress to Commander Aylard, who told the Prince of Wales. Charles counseled her to contact Peter Carter-Ruck, one of England's most widely known libel lawyers.

Two days after putting the Princess on notice, the lawyer sent letters to newspapers warning that the allegations were false. "Reports have reached her [Tiggy] and her family that a series of malicious lies are circulating in the press which are a gross reflection on our client's moral character. These allegations are utterly without the very slightest foundation."

With the full support of Prince Charles, Tiggy was prepared to sue Diana over her remark. But the Prince's friends cautioned him that the Princess would dig in her heels, even relis.h.i.+ng the spectacle of the royal family in a courtroom fight. Charles agreed, and after lengthy talks with her lawyers, Tiggy decided not to sue.

Diana's oblique attack on Tiggy came within hours of being named Humanitarian of the Year. She attended the staff Christmas party upon her return from New York City, where she had received the prestigious United Cerebral Palsy award from former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The seventy-two-year-old statesman seemed transfixed by the Princess in her low-cut gown and stared at her bosom like a high school boy. In his gushy introduction, he said Diana was a symbol to humanity of caring and compa.s.sion.

"She is here as a member of the royal family with which the USA has a long history of cooperation, friends.h.i.+p, and standing as allies," he said. "But we are honoring the Princess in her own right tonight, having aligned herself with the ill, the suffering, and the downtrodden."

Seven hundred people paid $1,000 each to attend the dinner and applauded Diana as she walked to the microphone, sparkling in diamonds. She spoke movingly of how her thoughts were with parents who were holding vigil at the bedsides of their desperately sick children, who might not live until the morning.

Then a woman called out from the audience: "Where are your your children, Diana?" children, Diana?"

"They're in school," replied the Princess, barely looking up. Then she resumed her speech. When she finished, the crowd stood up and cheered as if to drown out the rude interruption.

Afterward a reporter approached the middle-aged heckler and asked why she had yelled at the Princess of Wales, expressing surprise that someone would dare to yell at royalty. Without apology the woman replied: "I don't like being lectured on humanity."

TWENTY-TWO.

A battle royal was brewing. For two months the Queen had been waiting for the Princess to respond to her letter. Her Majesty's private secretary had phoned Diana three times to nudge a response, but Diana kept stalling. Then Prince Charles wrote her. Finally she deigned to respond. battle royal was brewing. For two months the Queen had been waiting for the Princess to respond to her letter. Her Majesty's private secretary had phoned Diana three times to nudge a response, but Diana kept stalling. Then Prince Charles wrote her. Finally she deigned to respond.

She called her husband and proposed a meeting with him: February 28, 1996, 4:30 P.M. P.M., in his office at St. James's Palace. She insisted they meet privately-no lawyers, no equerries, no secretaries. At the appointed hour, Charles and Diana were on the scene. His courtiers objected to the restrictions because they wanted to take notes, but Charles waved them off. As the last of his staff backed out the door, Diana sniped, "They'll probably bug the room anyway."

She later told Richard Kay of the Daily Mail Daily Mail that she had told Charles, "I loved you and I will always love you because you are the father of my children." But when Charles saw that statement in print he became angry. He told one of his aides that she had never uttered those words. What he clearly recalled-and said he would never forget-was his wife's threat months before. He quoted her as saying: "You will never be King. I shall destroy you." that she had told Charles, "I loved you and I will always love you because you are the father of my children." But when Charles saw that statement in print he became angry. He told one of his aides that she had never uttered those words. What he clearly recalled-and said he would never forget-was his wife's threat months before. He quoted her as saying: "You will never be King. I shall destroy you."

When he read Diana's rendition of their private meeting as recounted in the Mail, Mail, he decided to get a gag order. He insisted a confidentiality clause be included in their divorce agreement to keep her from writing or speaking about their marriage. Diana accused him of extortion and demanded that he sign a similar pledge, but he resisted. He said his word of honor was enough. he decided to get a gag order. He insisted a confidentiality clause be included in their divorce agreement to keep her from writing or speaking about their marriage. Diana accused him of extortion and demanded that he sign a similar pledge, but he resisted. He said his word of honor was enough.

During that meeting in his office, she had told him that if he made it clear to the world that he, not not she, was requesting the divorce, she would agree to proceed with negotiations. She even offered to give up her royal status. Her t.i.tle became a sticking point, but at first she said she didn't care about it. After the meeting she called the Queen to say she agreed to a divorce "with deep regrets." She told the Queen it was "the saddest day of my life." she, was requesting the divorce, she would agree to proceed with negotiations. She even offered to give up her royal status. Her t.i.tle became a sticking point, but at first she said she didn't care about it. After the meeting she called the Queen to say she agreed to a divorce "with deep regrets." She told the Queen it was "the saddest day of my life."