The Murder of Princess Diana by Noel Botham

there, and she suggested they “cool it” for a while. After that she did not reply to his phone messages.
    Oliver Hoare was married to Diane, an extremely wealthy woman in her own right, and the couple had met Charles and Diana at a function at Windsor Castle. The prince had struck up an immediate friendship with Hoare and the four of them dined together occasionally at one or other of their homes. Oliver Hoare also knew the Parker Bowleses, and initially Diana was attracted to him because she believed he might explain the mysterious attraction Camilla exercised over her husband—something which the princess never did understand.
    Hoare was clearly flattered by her attentions, and willingly agreed to a series of assignations, though he neither expected nor wanted it to lead to anything serious. Diana, on the other hand, became temporarily besotted with the thirty-nine-year-old—as she did with all the men to whom she was attracted. This led to her taking risks, for Diana needed the constant reassurance that she was the most memorable woman in her lover’s life. On one occasion, to give Hoare a taste of the “unforgettable” aspect of an affair with the Princess of Wales, she arrived on his doorstep wearing a full-length fur coat, which she flung open, revealing that underneath she was stark naked—except, that is, for a diamond necklace.
    Despite stunts like this, and though they spent nights together at Kensington Palace, or in the homes of mutual and discreet friends, she agonized, correctly, that he did not reciprocate her love. These doubts made her irritable and unapproachable, even to her favorites. She was definitely in no mood to give more than short shrift to the palace aide who brought outline plans for a proposed “romantic” visit to the East with her husband. She told the man not to be stupid and to go away.
    Incredibly, despite the parlous state of the Waleses’ marriage, certain palace aides really believed they could still organize a fence-mending operation on their nonexistent relationship, and had proposed a “kiss and make up” tour of South Korea. Diana was not even speaking to Charles at this stage, and announced that in the name of all honesty she saw no reason to go. The Foreign Office, her senior staff and finally Ken Wharfe were recruited to try and persuade her to change her mind, but with no success. In the end it took a tough talking-to by the Queen to get Diana to capitulate, though then only very reluctantly.
    With hindsight it was agreed that it would have been far more sensible to have canceled the visit, or to have sent Prince Charles alone. The whole, pointless exercise was a disaster for the royals and a deep embarrassment to the couple’s hosts—the people of South Korea. With no consideration for anyone’s feelings but their own, the Waleses indulged themselves in a massive shouting match on board the royal flight as it descended into Seoul airport, and when they finally emerged flushed, angry and scowling, it set the tone for the next five days: sullen, uncooperative and bleak.
    It was, even the media agreed, a sad and sorry ending to the fairy-tale marriage which it had been hoped would see the royals triumphantly and joyfully into the twenty-first century. It survived only eleven mostly miserable years; Diana herself claimed it was lucky to have survived the first.
    Whether the break came in time to prevent lasting damage to the two boys, William and Harry, is still unknown, but tragically, by then, the boys were fully aware of their parents’ problems and had been party to some of their most awful rows. What everyone—family, friends, courtiers and staff—agreed was that if there was not a radical change in their circumstances then the children would inevitably become emotionally scarred by the situation. It might already be too late. Wendy Berry had heard William, almost in tears, shouting at Charles, “I hate you, Papa. I hate you so much. Why do you make Mummy