The royals - Kitty Kelley [286]
Interviews: John Barratt (November 21, 22, 23, 1993); Carinthia West (April 14, 1994); Adam Shand Kydd (April 19, April 21, 1994); Spencer family relative (March 9, 1996); Lady Colin Campbell (May 10, May 11, 1995).
Re: Diana’s relationship with the press:
During her courtship, Lady Diana Spencer sought to help James Whitaker ingratiate himself with the Prince of Wales. She suggested the reporter write Charles a sympathy note on the death of his horse Allibar. On February 24, 1981, Charles was moved enough to respond:
Dear Mr. Whitaker,
I was most touched to receive your very kind and most understanding letter. It was altogether a miserable business as I had become very fond of that old horse and the prospects were so exciting for the future.
However, fate intervenes in strange ways.
Thank you so much for writing as you did.
Your sincerely,
Charles
Re: Diana’s reported virginity and physical ability to deliver an heir:
Nigel Dempster reported in the Daily Mail (February 1981) that Diana had undergone a physical examination by the Palace to determine whether or not she could bear children. “She has been pronounced physically sound to produce children.” The Palace said the story was “preposterous.” So did Diana. Five years later, when Dempster was working on a book with Peter Evans for G. P. Putnam’s Sons, he backed off the story. In a fax to his coauthor, Dempster said:
“Given the fact that both Diana and Sarah Spencer vehemently deny the story about the fertility test, and that you directly name Pinker [the royal gynecologist], who is in a position to make a denial, would you please alter the passage so that you take in the story as being around at the time but then quote either Diana or Sarah as being scandalised and or horrified at such a suggestion. I feel that you could suggest that this was a rumor put about by old, disgruntled flames of Prince Charles in an attempt to discredit Diana, or some such ruse.
“What we must guard against is antagonising any member of the Spencer family who might then be seduced by a rival newspaper to rubbishing the book.”
Re: Mystery woman who boarded the royal train days before the July 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana:
“We were sitting in the Knightsbridge barracks when that story broke,” recalled Robin Knight-Bruce (May 11, 1995). “Andrew Parker Bowles walked in and we all knew that Charles had been with Camilla and not Diana on the royal train. We started pounding the table. He went so angry. Puce in the face. He picked up a plate of lunch and stormed out of the room. Everyone laughed….”
CHAPTER 13
Articles: “Princess” by Robert Lacey, Good Housekeeping, September 1982; “Our Princess,” Daily Express, October 28, 1981; Time, August 3, 1981; “A New Princess of Wales Walks in Royal Footsteps” by Antonia Fraser, Life, April 1981; Newsweek, May 18, 1981; the Irish Independent, May 9, 1981; “How Diana Will Wreck the Windsors” by A. N. Wilson, Evening Standard, March 2, 1993.
Interviews: John Pearson (February 13, April 30, 1995); John Teenan (April 25, 1994); Philip Benjamin (April 26, 1994); David Hume Kennerly (March 25, 1996); Victoria Mather (March 26, July 12, 1994); Taki Theodoracopulos (November 2, 1993); Richard Dalton (January 17, 1997).
CHAPTER 14
Documents: Personal letters released by the Presidential Library of Ronald Reagan: In a letter to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, dated June 18, 1982, thanking them for their hospitality at Windsor Castle, Reagan expressed U.S. support for the U.K. invasion of the Falkland Islands:
“The news of your victory in the South Atlantic was received with happiness and relief here. We are glad that you have upheld the principle that armed aggression cannot be allowed to succeed, and in addition, that young men of the United Kingdom and Argentina will no longer be under fire.”
Articles: American Spectator, May 1992; Financial Times, November 11, 1985; Peregrine Worsthorne, the