The royals - Kitty Kelley [249]
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 pronounced her performance as “toe-curlingly dreadful” and said she was “in the advanced stages of paranoia.”
But the working classes 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 sexual 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 class lines. Elderly Tory squires and Anglican bishops backed the Prince, while a majority of working-class 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 sex.”
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 assured 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 pushing 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 assistant 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