Diana (42 page)
Authors: Bill Adler
She told Rosa: “I haven’t felt as free as this since I was nineteen.”
In their final telephone conversation, Rosa Monckton asked Diana if she felt blissful in her relationship with Dodi. “Yes, bliss.”
The day before the crash, Diana told model Cindy Crawford: “For the first time in my life I can say I am truly happy. Dodi is a fantastic man; he fills me with attention and care. I feel once more loved.”
On the night before she died, on the telephone from Paris, she told Richard Kay: “I do sometimes wonder what’s the point. Whatever I do, it’s never good enough for some people.”
She also told Kay: “I’m coming home tomorrow and the boys will be back from Scotland in the evening. I will have a few days with them before they’re back at school.”
About the lunar eclipse (which happened the day after she died), Diana told her personal astrologer: “That’s the day I get my boys back.”
Her last words to Richard Kay: “Unplug your phone and get a good night’s sleep.”
She was once asked whether she gambled. “Not with cards,” she replied, “but with life.”
She once wondered out loud to a royal milliner, “If anything ever happens to me, Mr. Sommerville, do you think they’ll think of me as another Jackie Kennedy?”
Diana’s tribute
“I can honestly say that one of my greatest pleasures has been my association with people…. I’ve been allowed to share your thoughts and dreams, your disappointments, and your happiness. You have also given me an education by teaching me more about life and living than any books or teachers could have done. My debt of gratitude to you all is immense. I hope in some small way I have been of service in return. Your kindness and affection have carried me through some of the most difficult periods, and always your love and care have eased that journey. And for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Many thanks to Tom Steele for his creative assistance.
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The Cosby Wit
The Letterman Wit
The World of Jay Leno
July 1, 1961: Lady Diana Frances Spencer is born.
1967: Diana’s mother leaves her husband and her four children.
1969: After a bitter, two-year divorce trial, Diana’s father receives custody of the children. (Her mother’s own mother testifies against her daughter’s character.)
1976: Diana’s father marries Countess Raine Dartmouth, daughter of romance novelist Barbara Cartland.