Diana--A Closely Guarded Secret by Ken Wharfe

Author:Ken Wharfe [Ken Wharfe and Robert Jobson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782190103
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2015-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

Although experience has taught me never to underestimate the British press, it never fails to amaze me how gullible journalists can be. True, some try harder than others to find out what is actually happening behind palace doors, usually to be rewarded with a barrage of abuse from courtiers whose job it is to offer the best possible gloss, and sometimes even to lie, for their employers. Other reporters, seeking an easy life, seem content to swallow the anodyne doses offered by spin doctors and other aides or spokesmen. Acceptance of this spoon feeding was never more evident than in the British media’s reporting of the Princess’s supposed ‘love cruise’ with Charles in the summer of 1991, at the height of their marital problems. Bizarrely, most of the journalists who penned this ‘love boat’ rubbish knew perfectly well that the Prince and Princess were at loggerheads. Yet some, no doubt to keep in with Palace circles, chose to go into print with Richard Aylard’s rosy briefings about the trip.

After I had accompanied the Princess as she inspected her regiment (the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, later nicknamed, rather cruelly, the ‘Squidgys’), Arthur Edwards of The Sun, was plaguing me about the royal couple’s destination, as news of the fact that they were taking a holiday together, with their sons, had leaked out. ‘Is it Majorca? I’ve heard it’s off this year,’ he said.

‘You might be right, Arthur, but I can’t tell you even if you are,’ I insisted.

‘I’ve heard they are going to Italy aboard some Greek billionaire’s yacht, Ken. Is that right?’ he persisted. My silence was enough to make him realise something different was afoot this year. All I could tell him was to follow his instincts.

Fleet Street pooled information. With the notable exception of the Daily Express team of photographer Steve Wood and correspondent Ashley Walton, who flew to Majorca on a rumour or a whim, the rest of the hacks headed for the Italian port of Naples. They rightly deduced that the Prince and Princess were taking their holiday aboard the yacht owned by the Greek tycoon John Latsis – as Arthur Edwards had surmised – and that the royal party would board the yacht, the Alexander, from a military port, where security would make sure that no journalist or photographer got even close.

The Alexander is one of the world’s largest and most luxurious private yachts. Worth more than $45 million (£30 million), the 350-foot yacht was equipped with every possible luxury, including vintage Dom Pérignon seemingly on tap. For Diana, however, the trip was nothing but a chore. The benefit for her was that she had a chance to be with her sons, but most of the other guests on board were people she termed ‘Charles’s cronies’. In this she was being a little unfair, since those who accompanied the Prince and Princess on such a holiday at such a time, given the state of relations between them, deserved a medal, not criticism, even if the guest list did somewhat favour the Prince and his friends.

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