Diana (27 page)

“Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a daughter who wanted to be with you all the time?”

“Contrary to what you may have heard, I’d like lots and lots more children. I’d love a little girl but I’m wondering whether the world is ready for another me.”

At a party early in 1988, she told a friend who has two daughters: “If I have another son and you have another daughter, we’ll swap.”

On the fact that both of her pregnancies were difficult: “If men had babies, they would only have one each.”

“I just can’t resist some young children. They stand before me, some with their arms stretched out. I just want to pick them up in my arms, so I do.”

In Australia, Diana met a woman with a fractious baby who told her that she wished she had a nanny to take care of her child. Diana said, “I would swap with you anytime. I wish I didn’t have to leave William with a nanny. I would rather do what you are doing.”

“To encourage and guide, to nourish and nurture, and to listen with love to their needs in ways which clearly show our children that we value them. They in their turn will then learn how to value themselves.”

“Some psychologists believe that problems start in the womb. Morning sickness can affect both mother and child. Cigarettes and alcohol can restrict the child’s growth potential; so can anguish or violence around the mother. The outside world they are meant to be joining soon seems less attractive than the warmth of the womb. Often the conflict between parents can distract either parent from meeting the needs of the children, or worse
still, the children become pawns in their parents’ struggle. Parents sometimes desert families, leaving their children bewildered and bereft with no explanation. Like crying, cuddles or hugs don’t hurt. It is cheap, environmentally friendly, and needs minimal instruction. It is a simple and highly effective way of sharing concern or showing approval.”

She told an eleven-year-old, who’d greeted her with “Good morning, Princess Diana,” “Oh, no, I do not want you to call me Princess. Just call me Diana.”

When a little girl who had failed to get close enough to Diana to hand her a bouquet of flowers burst out sobbing, Diana bent down to take the flowers from her, reassuring her: “Agony over.”

“I made the grave mistake once of saying to a child I was thick as a plank, in order to ease the
child’s nervousness, which it did. But that headline went all round the world, and I rather regret saying it.”

Diana wrote the young daughter of
Majesty
magazine’s editor: “I hope for your birthday you managed to get those grown-ups to give you the doll’s house and the cardigan and the pony hairbrush. Don’t believe their excuses.”