Diana (30 page)

To a group of journalists in London: “The only thing you don’t know about me is how many fillings I’ve had.”

Journalist and friend Arthur Edwards complained that she’d worn “that boring old dress” at the opera the previous night. She rejoined, “Oh, I suppose you’d like it better if I came naked.”

She told journalist Anthony Holden: “I can never enjoy any weekend until I know someone else is on the front page of the
News of the World.”

When Arthur Edwards complained to her that he’d broken a few ribs falling off a ladder while photographing Diana in Lisbon the previous
week, she cracked, “Oh, I knew it would be my fault.”

She told a group of journalists at a party: “There I was in this leprosy mission in the hills of Nepal and I look across the room, and what do I see? A
Vogue
T-shirt! I thought, Oh, no, not
here!”

Diana particularly despised the British press. “There is an obsessive interest in me and the children.”

Paparazzo Glenn Harvey asked, “What do you want? No pictures at all?” “
Yes,”
she replied. “I’m desperate for that.”

Teasing Arthur Edwards one day as she was about to board a very steep escalator: “I suppose you want to take a picture right up my legs?”

“I’m not asking to be perfect. I’m far from it. But I’d just like the chance and opportunity to get involved in my various interests that I’ve chosen without people talking about me being a shopaholic or something.”

“Like it or not, I’ve been quite a provider for the media. And now I’m asking for your help to reduce the suffering caused by drugs.”

While skiing in the Alps, she begged the paparazzi to put their cameras away. “As a parent, could I ask you to respect my children’s space because I’ve brought the children out here for a holiday … and we’d really appreciate the space.”

“I long ago have given up reading the lurid tabloids, who profess to know what is going on in my life. But I am told what they are saying because
of the letters I receive from the public. Of course, I take note when unpleasant post arrives, but there’s not much I can do, except carry on doing my job in the best way I can.”

In July 1986, after Prince Andrew’s engagement to Fergie was announced, she said to the paparazzi: “You don’t need me anymore, do you?”