Daily Times

LONDON: Princess Diana rocked the monarchy when she leaked shocking details of palace life to author Andrew Morton, who told AFP the revelations are still causing damage 20 years after her death.

His 1992 book “Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words” laid bare her decaying marriage to Prince Charles, her suicide attempts and battles with bulimia. But it also painted a bleak picture of life inside Britain’s royal family.

Morton’s book, which became a best-seller, shone an unflattering light on Prince Charles that still casts a shadow on the heir to the throne, as thoughts turn towards a post-Elizabeth monarchy.

Morton is convinced that that is something Diana intended.

“There’s no question in her conversations with me and subsequently on television, when she talked about (how) Prince Charles wasn’t fit to be king, that she always felt that Prince William should take on the role of the future king,” he said in an interview in his London home.

“Today we find that a majority of people would rather see the crown go directly to Prince William rather than Prince Charles.

“Ain’t going to happen, but that’s public sentiment — and it’s public sentiment in part, which has been influenced by Diana’s life.” A poll conducted by YouGov found that the run-up to Thursday’s 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in a Paris car crash had hit Charles’s popularity. Only a third of respondents said he had been beneficial for the royal family — down from nearly two-thirds four years ago.

Just 14 percent want to see his current wife Camilla, Diana’s nemesis during their marriage, as queen.

“The anniversary has already opened old wounds for Camilla, people are being reminded of the fact that she was instrumental in ending this marriage that was described as a fairy tale,” said Morton, who has released a revised version of his book to mark 25 years since its release.

Diana, who famously said there were “three people” in her marriage, contacted then-royal reporter Morton through friend James Colthurst in order to make public her anguish.

“She gave me the odd story, most notably about Prince Charles sacking his private secretary, and it gave her a sense of control and power, and she rather liked it,” Morton explained.

“What I didn’t realise at the time was that Diana was just desperate — nothing prepared me for the revelation that was to come,” he added.

“Her husband Prince Charles was effectively living with another man’s wife.”

The author described the moment of hearing the first taped interview with Colthurst, who acted as an intermediary so Diana could maintain deniability when asked if she had met Morton.

Published in Daily Times, August 27^th 2017.