Unprepared for her dramatic public appeal, the crowd at the luncheon for the Headway National Head Injuries Association sat in stunned silence as a tremulous Diana read her statement. Noting that media attention had been "hard to bear" of late, the princess added that she hoped to focus on a few charitable causes and find a "way of combining a meaningful public role with, hopefully, a more private life." Her most important mission, she said, would be to de-vote herself to bringing up Prince William, 11, and Prince Harry, 9, who, she observed, "deserve as much love, care and attention" as she can give them.
Though Diana's audience, which applauded sympathetically, may have believed that the choice was hers, many Windsor watchers saw a guiding hand (or was it a saber?) at her back. In truth, one year after the Waleses' separation, the Palace seems bent on removing Diana from the spotlight—and in pushing her estranged husband onto the stage. As newspaper columnist John Junor noted in the Mail on Sunday, "Do I believe that [it was Diana's decision]? About as much as I would believe that the Queen likes nothing better of a night than jumping on her moped and tootling down to the local for a pint of beer and a game of snooker."
Ironically, Diana's plea for privacy triggered an orgy of press coverage. The story was picked up around the world, and British papers played it as though she were a monarch who had just renounced the throne. Terrified, perhaps, that their most valuable prey might really disappear, the royal "rat pack" examined the AB-DI-CATION, as one paper called it, from every angle. Even the unexcitable BBC ran the story at the top of the evening news.
While London was awash in conflicting rumors, some seasoned observers reckoned that the carefully timed speech meant that divorce is around the corner. The Daily Express said "another major statement about the couple's future is expected from the Palace within the next week or two," and the Queen's advisers allowed themselves to be quoted on the importance of tying up loose ends. "The sooner this mess is cleaned up, the better," sniffed one courtier.
Reports that Diana is leaving her quarters at Kensington Palace support the theory that divorce is in the works. By one account, a discreet house search has been conducted in Kensington and Knightsbridge for weeks. According to the Daily Mail, "Although [Diana's] personal needs are fairly modest, she accepts that she will need a substantial house that is big enough for staff and security and secluded enough to protect her from the...paparazzi."
The most interesting question, of course, is what Di will do with herself. Since her split with Charles, the princess has found a sense of purpose in her charity work; with her children packed off to school and her engagement book nearly blank, however, her life could be short on glamor. Isolated and understandably wary, she has few trusted shoulders upon which to lean and no spokesmen to spin the news in her favor. (Since Andrew Morton's Diana: Her True Story created a furor in 1992, her own friends have been reluctant to talk to the press.) And though her speech sparked inevitable rumors that she wants privacy while auditioning new suitors, insiders claim that the stressed-out princess is hardly in the mood for romance.
Barbara Cartland, for one, predicts that the princess will be "bored stiff." Says Cartland (mother of Diana's stepmother, Raine, Countess de Chambrun): "Diana doesn't have intelligent interests like Prince Charles. He reads books and campaigns for the environment. The only books she ever read were mine, and they weren't awfully good for her. She loves the spotlight and will miss it terribly."
Indeed. In the view of many royal watchers, public adoration has helped Diana cope with the emotional void in her marriage. She has fought many of her battles in the press, and she is said to devour her clippings. Insiders claim that, in the absence of support from her journalistic entourage, she may suffer a kind of withdrawal.
Why, then, did Di claim that the press had prompted her retreat? Well-placed observers say that, as embarrassing as they may have been, the photos taken of her at London's L.A. Fitness club and published last month in the Sunday Mirror had nothing to do with her announcement. Instead, the move, like most of the Palace's maneuvers, has been in the pipeline for months. Eager to blame the press for the Windsors' embarrassments, courtiers who stage-managed the princess's announcement were able to use the pictures to bolster their case.
What Charles's advisers didn't expect, however, was that Britons would suspect that Diana's hand had been forced and that public sympathy would swing her way. "Happy Now, Charles?" gibed one Sunday tabloid, which noted that the prince had gone foxhunting the day after his wife's speech. "He broke Diana's heart," read the front-page billing; "24 hours later he went out for a bit of fun...killing animals."
Observing that "the popularity of Prince Charles has been severely damaged by his marriage breakdown," the Mail on Sunday revealed the results of a poll that found that 31 percent of Britons believe that Prince William should succeed the Queen. That blow was followed by an attack by George Austin, the Archdeacon of York, who questioned whether Charles's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles renders him unfit to become Defender of the Faith. "He has broken the trust and vows to God on one thing," said Austin. "How can he then...take the Coronation vows?"
For his part, the prince was said to be dismayed that the issue of adultery had been raised. "It's the very last thing he needed," says an insider. Still, he and his handlers are said to be determined to make 1994 the Year of Charles, and they trust that the job will be easier with the charismatic princess out of the way.
Not that the Palace expects Diana to take the veil. Although she is no longer likely to attend state functions, supporters expect her to make a limited comeback in the spring, perhaps in her role as vice president of the British Red Cross. The Catholic Church may also offer opportunities for her to do charity work: Diana is said to have explored the notion of converting and could form a very public alliance with the church—which, of course, would spin her even further from the royal family.
For now, though, the princess is honoring her previous commitments. On Dec. 6 she christened a new Airbus A340 in Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic fleet. Looking uncomfortable, she said little during the ceremony at Heathrow Airport and smiled weakly when pop star Chris de Burgh joked, "I think it's very generous of Mr. Branson to donate this aircraft to you...to gel away from the media." Although they were kept 40 yards away, photographers bagged their shots nevertheless. Every last one was equipped with a high-powered telephoto lens—the sort that will, in the prophetic words of one insider, "follow Diana to her grave."
MICHELLE GREEN
TERRY SMITH in London
- Contributors:
- Terry Smith.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
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