Diana (13 page)

Early in 1996, she told journalists: “The boys are both doing very well at school. William is doing well academically and doesn’t really like it. He’d prefer to do other things but sticks to his work and is getting on fine.”

By May 1997: “William is six feet one inch now. The girls will love him when he is a little bit older. It’s amazing that he is now taller than both his mother and his father.”

She frequently said, “The best part of my day is getting home to the children.”

Two months before she died, Diana said, “All my hopes are on William now. I don’t want to push
him. Charles suggested that he might go to Hong Kong for the handover, but he said, ‘Mummy, must I? I just don’t feel ready.’ I try to din into him all the time about the media—the dangers, and how he must understand and handle it. I think it’s too late for the rest of the family. But William—I think he has it. I think he understands. I’m hoping he’ll grow up to be as smart about it as John Kennedy, Jr. I want William to be able to handle things as well as John does.”

“My interests include a great interest in children and also ballet, but my interests will obviously be widened over the years. Many opportunities will arise and I look forward to considering these. I would very much like to help in any way in any areas I can. Obviously my life will be much busier and I look forward to that but I do hope we will also be able to have the opportunity to have some time to ourselves. As regards relaxation, I hope to continue with my dancing, swimming, and general outdoor activities. The interests [Charles and I] share are music, opera, outdoor sports, fishing, walking, polo. As regards the decoration of the homes at Highgrove and Kensington Palace, I have taken particular interest in the decorations but obviously have had to have advice.”

On life inside Buckingham Palace: “Not too bad. But too many formal dinners (yuk!).”

On touring

During her first visit to Wales after her marriage, she told Hywel Davies, the chancellor of St. David’s Cathedral in Cardiff: “I didn’t really believe I was a princess until I stepped into Wales. Now I know I am.”

Early on, she had a famous fit of giggles when she met two kings, four princes, and eight princesses from the Jordanian, Greek, and Danish royal families: “I was nervous, and when I’m nervous, I giggle. There were so many princes and princesses there. It made me even more scared.”

Touring Italy in 1985, Diana virtually refused to eat most of what was put before her. “If I eat that, I will explode!” And when she saw the dozens of bottles of wine being served at one occasion, she blurted out: “All that? They drink all that?”

As the Italian tour wore on, she complained to her staff that she was “getting fed up with all this culture.”

During the tour, when a British tourist congratulated Diana for being “a superb ambassador for Britain,” she demurred (no doubt recalling the difficult early days of the journey), telling him: “Oh, I haven’t done very well.”

When Charles asked her what she remembered most about the Italian trip, Diana said, “The warmth of the people.”

“Oh, you should have seen some of those Arabs going ga-ga when they saw me on the Gulf tour. I gave them the full treatment and they were all just falling over themselves. I just turned it on and mopped them up.”