Excerpt: 'Diana: Story of a Princess'

June 18, 2001 -- The following excerpt comes from the new book Diana: Story of a Princess, by Tim Clayton and Phil Craig.

-->

Chapter One: Look At Me

With a light knock on the door, Lady Diana Spencer came intothe office.She looked first at her feet, then towards the royalof official who was now standing before her. It was obvious shehad been crying.Would he mind if she asked him a delicatequestion? Of course not.

She hesitated for a moment and then asked whether he knewsomeone called Camilla Parker Bowles. He said yes immediately.He knew her as a friend of Prince Charles who was married toan of officer in the Household Cavalry. He had met her severaltimes; all the senior staff had.

Then Diana said in a quiet but serious voice that she had justasked the Prince of Wales whether he was in love with CamillaParker Bowles. He had not said no. As the tears returned, butstill looking him full in the face, she asked another question:?What am I going to do?? The courtier had no idea what to say.In his years of royal service, no one had ever spoken to him likethis.He wasn't alone.Within hours one of his closest colleagues,another senior member of the royal household, was askedexactly the same question.

The wedding was only ten days away. What were they allgoing to do? After urgent consultations in a corridor, the courtiers suggested to Diana that she should talk it over with Camillaface to face. One of them arranged a lunch at her favouriterestaurant. It was called Menageatrois.

So we had lunch.Very tricky indeed. She said: 'You arenot going to hunt are you?' I said: 'On what?' She said:'Horse.You are not going to hunt when you go and live atHighgrove are you??I said: 'No.' She said: 'I just wanted toknow.'

Diana Spencers background was different to Prince Charles's,but not that different. She was born into one of the grandestfamilies in England,a family that for two hundred yearshad been intimate with the court and its slowly ossifyingtraditions.

'The Lord Chamberlain ventures most respectfully to hopethat the heart-stirring though silent sympathy of the vastcrowds of Your Majesty's subjects may have somehow helpedYour Majesty in his crushing sorrow,' wrote Diana's great-grandfather to George V. Edward VII had just died and EarlSpencer was looking forward to arranging the new King's coro-nation.He made urgent notes regarding the forthcoming cer-emonials: 'Queen's robes — Are they safeguarded from moth inthe Tower?'

Diana's grandfather was the first of his family for severalgenerations not to take a place at court. But this was chieflyowing to his devotion to a more urgent duty to preserve hisown decaying heritage. In 1922 as a young of officer in the LifeGuards, Albert Edward John, 7 Earl Spencer, inherited thepalace and estates of Althorp in Northamptonshire and theurban palazzo called Spencer House in St James' Place, overlooking Green Park.Both were packed with priceless fittings,furniture and paintings, all of which needed care and restoration.

There were debts, mortgages, death duties and the buildingswere in disrepair.He raised £300,000 by selling six masterpiecesby Reynolds, Gainsborough, van Dyck and Frans Hals to theUnited States.This solved the immediate problem. During thewar, 'Jack', as the seventh earl was known, emptied SpencerHouse, to save its fabulous contents from Hitler's bombers,and he crowded more evidence of the affluence of his ancestorsbetween the fading silk wall hangings of his country home. Astime went by Althorp became increasingly museum-like. In 1957he opened it to the public, the condition for receiving governmentgrants to save the fabric of the house from dry rot and deathwatch beetle. But even though Jack Spencer was preoccupied with the conservation of one of the largest fortunes made in the days when Britannia truly ruled the trade routes, his wife, Lady Cynthia, kept up tradition. In 1936 she was made a Woman ofthe Bedchamber and she later became a lady-in-waiting to QueenElizabeth II. She was still a courtier when her granddaughterDiana was born.

All rights reserved. Simon and Schuster. This excerpt may not be reprinted without the express written consent of Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster.

Then Diana said in a quiet but serious voice that she had justasked the Prince of Wales whether he was in love with CamillaParker Bowles. He had not said no. As the tears returned, butstill looking him full in the face, she asked another question:?What am I going to do?? The courtier had no idea what to say.In his years of royal service, no one had ever spoken to him likethis.He wasn't alone.Within hours one of his closest colleagues,another senior member of the royal household, was askedexactly the same question.

The wedding was only ten days away. What were they allgoing to do? After urgent consultations in a corridor, the courtiers suggested to Diana that she should talk it over with Camillaface to face. One of them arranged a lunch at her favouriterestaurant. It was called Menageatrois.

So we had lunch.Very tricky indeed. She said: 'You arenot going to hunt are you?' I said: 'On what?' She said:'Horse.You are not going to hunt when you go and live atHighgrove are you??I said: 'No.' She said: 'I just wanted toknow.'

Diana Spencers background was different to Prince Charles's,but not that different. She was born into one of the grandestfamilies in England,a family that for two hundred yearshad been intimate with the court and its slowly ossifyingtraditions.

'The Lord Chamberlain ventures most respectfully to hopethat the heart-stirring though silent sympathy of the vastcrowds of Your Majesty's subjects may have somehow helpedYour Majesty in his crushing sorrow,' wrote Diana's great-grandfather to George V. Edward VII had just died and EarlSpencer was looking forward to arranging the new King's coro-nation.He made urgent notes regarding the forthcoming cer-emonials: 'Queen's robes — Are they safeguarded from moth inthe Tower?'

Diana's grandfather was the first of his family for severalgenerations not to take a place at court. But this was chieflyowing to his devotion to a more urgent duty to preserve hisown decaying heritage. In 1922 as a young of officer in the LifeGuards, Albert Edward John, 7 Earl Spencer, inherited thepalace and estates of Althorp in Northamptonshire and theurban palazzo called Spencer House in St James' Place, overlooking Green Park.Both were packed with priceless fittings,furniture and paintings, all of which needed care and restoration.

There were debts, mortgages, death duties and the buildingswere in disrepair.He raised £300,000 by selling six masterpiecesby Reynolds, Gainsborough, van Dyck and Frans Hals to theUnited States.This solved the immediate problem. During thewar, 'Jack', as the seventh earl was known, emptied SpencerHouse, to save its fabulous contents from Hitler's bombers,and he crowded more evidence of the affluence of his ancestorsbetween the fading silk wall hangings of his country home. Astime went by Althorp became increasingly museum-like. In 1957he opened it to the public, the condition for receiving governmentgrants to save the fabric of the house from dry rot and deathwatch beetle. But even though Jack Spencer was preoccupied with the conservation of one of the largest fortunes made in the days when Britannia truly ruled the trade routes, his wife, Lady Cynthia, kept up tradition. In 1936 she was made a Woman ofthe Bedchamber and she later became a lady-in-waiting to QueenElizabeth II. She was still a courtier when her granddaughterDiana was born.

All rights reserved. Simon and Schuster. This excerpt may not be reprinted without the express written consent of Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster.

The wedding was only ten days away. What were they allgoing to do? After urgent consultations in a corridor, the courtiers suggested to Diana that she should talk it over with Camillaface to face. One of them arranged a lunch at her favouriterestaurant. It was called Menageatrois.

So we had lunch.Very tricky indeed. She said: 'You arenot going to hunt are you?' I said: 'On what?' She said:'Horse.You are not going to hunt when you go and live atHighgrove are you??I said: 'No.' She said: 'I just wanted toknow.'

Diana Spencers background was different to Prince Charles's,but not that different. She was born into one of the grandestfamilies in England,a family that for two hundred yearshad been intimate with the court and its slowly ossifyingtraditions.

'The Lord Chamberlain ventures most respectfully to hopethat the heart-stirring though silent sympathy of the vastcrowds of Your Majesty's subjects may have somehow helpedYour Majesty in his crushing sorrow,' wrote Diana's great-grandfather to George V. Edward VII had just died and EarlSpencer was looking forward to arranging the new King's coro-nation.He made urgent notes regarding the forthcoming cer-emonials: 'Queen's robes — Are they safeguarded from moth inthe Tower?'

Diana's grandfather was the first of his family for severalgenerations not to take a place at court. But this was chieflyowing to his devotion to a more urgent duty to preserve hisown decaying heritage. In 1922 as a young of officer in the LifeGuards, Albert Edward John, 7 Earl Spencer, inherited thepalace and estates of Althorp in Northamptonshire and theurban palazzo called Spencer House in St James' Place, overlooking Green Park.Both were packed with priceless fittings,furniture and paintings, all of which needed care and restoration.

There were debts, mortgages, death duties and the buildingswere in disrepair.He raised £300,000 by selling six masterpiecesby Reynolds, Gainsborough, van Dyck and Frans Hals to theUnited States.This solved the immediate problem. During thewar, 'Jack', as the seventh earl was known, emptied SpencerHouse, to save its fabulous contents from Hitler's bombers,and he crowded more evidence of the affluence of his ancestorsbetween the fading silk wall hangings of his country home. Astime went by Althorp became increasingly museum-like. In 1957he opened it to the public, the condition for receiving governmentgrants to save the fabric of the house from dry rot and deathwatch beetle. But even though Jack Spencer was preoccupied with the conservation of one of the largest fortunes made in the days when Britannia truly ruled the trade routes, his wife, Lady Cynthia, kept up tradition. In 1936 she was made a Woman ofthe Bedchamber and she later became a lady-in-waiting to QueenElizabeth II. She was still a courtier when her granddaughterDiana was born.

All rights reserved. Simon and Schuster. This excerpt may not be reprinted without the express written consent of Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster.

Diana Spencers background was different to Prince Charles's,but not that different. She was born into one of the grandestfamilies in England,a family that for two hundred yearshad been intimate with the court and its slowly ossifyingtraditions.

'The Lord Chamberlain ventures most respectfully to hopethat the heart-stirring though silent sympathy of the vastcrowds of Your Majesty's subjects may have somehow helpedYour Majesty in his crushing sorrow,' wrote Diana's great-grandfather to George V. Edward VII had just died and EarlSpencer was looking forward to arranging the new King's coro-nation.He made urgent notes regarding the forthcoming cer-emonials: 'Queen's robes — Are they safeguarded from moth inthe Tower?'

Diana's grandfather was the first of his family for severalgenerations not to take a place at court. But this was chieflyowing to his devotion to a more urgent duty to preserve hisown decaying heritage. In 1922 as a young of officer in the LifeGuards, Albert Edward John, 7 Earl Spencer, inherited thepalace and estates of Althorp in Northamptonshire and theurban palazzo called Spencer House in St James' Place, overlooking Green Park.Both were packed with priceless fittings,furniture and paintings, all of which needed care and restoration.

There were debts, mortgages, death duties and the buildingswere in disrepair.He raised £300,000 by selling six masterpiecesby Reynolds, Gainsborough, van Dyck and Frans Hals to theUnited States.This solved the immediate problem. During thewar, 'Jack', as the seventh earl was known, emptied SpencerHouse, to save its fabulous contents from Hitler's bombers,and he crowded more evidence of the affluence of his ancestorsbetween the fading silk wall hangings of his country home. Astime went by Althorp became increasingly museum-like. In 1957he opened it to the public, the condition for receiving governmentgrants to save the fabric of the house from dry rot and deathwatch beetle. But even though Jack Spencer was preoccupied with the conservation of one of the largest fortunes made in the days when Britannia truly ruled the trade routes, his wife, Lady Cynthia, kept up tradition. In 1936 she was made a Woman ofthe Bedchamber and she later became a lady-in-waiting to QueenElizabeth II. She was still a courtier when her granddaughterDiana was born.

All rights reserved. Simon and Schuster. This excerpt may not be reprinted without the express written consent of Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster.

There were debts, mortgages, death duties and the buildingswere in disrepair.He raised £300,000 by selling six masterpiecesby Reynolds, Gainsborough, van Dyck and Frans Hals to theUnited States.This solved the immediate problem. During thewar, 'Jack', as the seventh earl was known, emptied SpencerHouse, to save its fabulous contents from Hitler's bombers,and he crowded more evidence of the affluence of his ancestorsbetween the fading silk wall hangings of his country home. Astime went by Althorp became increasingly museum-like. In 1957he opened it to the public, the condition for receiving governmentgrants to save the fabric of the house from dry rot and deathwatch beetle. But even though Jack Spencer was preoccupied with the conservation of one of the largest fortunes made in the days when Britannia truly ruled the trade routes, his wife, Lady Cynthia, kept up tradition. In 1936 she was made a Woman ofthe Bedchamber and she later became a lady-in-waiting to QueenElizabeth II. She was still a courtier when her granddaughterDiana was born.

All rights reserved. Simon and Schuster. This excerpt may not be reprinted without the express written consent of Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster.