Diana's Relationships with The Queen and Other Members of the Royal Family


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August is like Christmas for the bad royal authors : they have to promote something new and juicy about Diana, it's a tradition.
At least the die-hard fans and the conspirancy theorists will have some bone to gnaw for the year to come.
 
MARG said:
Tina Brown, Paul Burrell and Andrew Morton et al, could hardly be called reputable sources however, there is absolutely no situation in which I would find your statement at best, distasteful and at worst, utterly repugnant!

I could not disagree with that statement more. When I met them when they visited NZ I can only say what I saw with my own eyes. He was riveted by her as she smiled and charmed her way around the assembled people with her incredible charisma. To me he seemed absurdly proud and totally besotted. I am sad that their relationship did not mature into something more lasting but I have no doubts personally, that at that time, he was as in love with her as she was with him.
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Thank you for sharing this Marg.

Wow thanks for the Honoria Glossop photographs. What was with the one with Princess Margaret, POW and DOY? Lets see who can wear the ugliest hat?

Mermaid1962 said:
They were close, yes. I remember Diana quoted as saying about the Duchess of Kent that she "would have liked to have looked after her." She could see the Duchess's fragility, and the Duchess would have understood the difficulty of marrying into the Royal Family.
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I love the Duchess of Kent, a very underestimated member of the family and woman, in my humble opinion.

There is a video on YouTube of the royal family getting together for a group photograph. PA is sitting down and then PH walks in, the joy is instant. PA gets up to greet him. PA is a mother, does anyone truly believe she would have no compassion on her nephews? I get accused of being a tough woman but go home to cry about my clients. It is unprofessional to cry in public. I understand PA's no nonsense approach to life but please don't allow apperances to deceive you.
 
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:previous:Who are PA and PH?:ermm: Princess Anne and Prince Harry?
 
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How was the relationship of Anne and Diana? and Anne and Sarah?
 
Anne was supposed to have described Sarah as 'a very, very nice girl' when she first met her. Her interests in horse riding and other country pursuits would have endeared her to Anne, at least at first, whereas Anne and Diana had little in common, and probably Anne, practical and a pragmatist like the Queen, didn't really understand Diana's complexities.

Diana was reputed to have admired Anne's dedication and her efficiency, but, she stated, according to Bedell Smith's biography of her, that she didn't like to 'rattle Anne's cage' and 'tended to keep out of her way'. Gatcombe is only twenty minutes away from Highgrove by car but there were rarely exchange visits. There was a great deal of media speculation when Anne was absent for Harry's christening.

Nevertheless, I have read that Anne once considered writing to Charles about his constant criticism of his wife in private which she had witnessed, so she was sympathetic to Diana at times.

Anne went once on a tour of farms in Ulster, very unglamorous work, and the next day the headlines in the tabs were about Diana's low cut burgundy dress worn the evening before at an engagement at the Barbican. Inside one newspaper, on Page 14, was 'Bovine Salute For Princess Anne In Ulster'. Anne usually kept her displeasure quiet about her work being knocked into the background by Diana's glamour but apparently on this occasion she was described as being 'hopping mad'.
 
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Blog Real said:
Diana and Anne were well?

Princess Diana, Princess of Wales, and her sister-in-law Princess... News Photo | Getty Images
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What a strange question. Take a picture of a poignant and solemn ceremony, two royal ladies in black and full of the loaden atmosphere of the moment and then ask the question: "Diana and Anne were well?"

:eek::ohmy::ermm::whistling:

ROYAL NORWAY said:
[...]

She says that the Queen had a troubled relationship with Diana - That's wrong, at least from Her Majesty's point of view.

[...]
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Aha, even in her annus horribilis, even after the Panorama Interview, even after Morton's book about which Diana lied straight in the face of the Queen, you say the Queen had NO troubled relationship with Diana, the lady who shook her Royal House on its fundaments?

:whistling:
 
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Duc_et_Pair said:
Aha, even in her annus horribilis, even after the Panorama Interview, even after Morton's book about which Diana lied straight in the face of the Queen, you say the Queen had NO troubled relationship with Diana, the lady who shook her Royal House on its fundaments?

:whistling:
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No, that's not what I'm saying, but she vas very fond of Diana, and she tried to help her several times.

The Queen took Diana's side from the very first, and as i have said in previous posts, defended her up to the Panorama interview in 1995.

Her Majesty is a very forgiving and non-judgmental person. She is still fond of Sarah Ferguson too, even after all her (Sarah's) faults, and they still have their meetings.
 
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Of course she is forgiving. Sarah and Diana were the mothers of four of her grandchildren. The article about the book by Ingrid Seward however paints an image of the Queen acting like her daughter Princess Anne: no nonsense and with little empathy and understanding. The Queen more acted like an ostrich by sticking her head in the sand: when you don't talk about it, then there is no problem either. So mommy-in-law was not really there to listen to Diana, to lend a shoulder to her and to give counsel. That is the image which is portrayed (not for the first time, other authors have written the same). It seems that only Sarah Ferguson unconditionally won the Queen's heart because her family has been so loyal into the service of various members of the royal family, during various generations: "She is one of us."
 
Curryong said:
There's quite an interesting article I found which gives some input into dynamics within the royal family after Sarah married in, including Diana's relationship/rivalry with Fergie. It was written only a year or so after the Yorks' wedding so it is pro-Fergie, but also hints at the worries the royal family had over Diana.

The Beginnings of a Royal Catfight? Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson?s Fraught Relationship | Vanity Fair
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That was a very interesting link. Thank you for posting. It seems as if, except for a few people, everybody (paps and the public) was willfully blind to the problems around Diana.

I never knew about the popularity of Sarah within the family.
 
SLV said:
That was a very interesting link. Thank you for posting.

I never knew about the popularity of Sarah within the family.
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:previous: I know neither I also . How times change :whistling:
 
Curryong said:
Anne was supposed to have described Sarah as 'a very, very nice girl' when she first met her. Her interests in horse riding and other country pursuits would have endeared her to Anne, at least at first, whereas Anne and Diana had little in common, and probably Anne, practical and a pragmatist like the Queen, didn't really understand Diana's complexities.

Diana was reputed to have admired Anne's dedication and her efficiency, but, she stated, according to Bedell Smith's biography of her, that she didn't like to 'rattle Anne's cage' and 'tended to keep out of her way'. Gatcombe is only twenty minutes away from Highgrove by car but there were rarely exchange visits. There was a great deal of media speculation when Anne was absent for Harry's christening.

Nevertheless, I have read that Anne once considered writing to Charles about his constant criticism of his wife in private which she had witnessed, so she was sympathetic to Diana at times.

Anne went once on a tour of farms in Ulster, very unglamorous work, and the next day the headlines in the tabs were about Diana's low cut burgundy dress worn the evening before at an engagement at the Barbican. Inside one newspaper, on Page 14, was 'Bovine Salute For Princess Anne In Ulster'. Anne usually kept her displeasure quiet about her work being knocked into the background by Diana's glamour but apparently on this occasion she was described as being 'hopping mad'.
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. Northern Ireland is a beautiful place and cows are rarely glamorous but they are not dangerous. PA is a country woman and a hard worker, I doubt she was overwhelmed by the assignment.
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
The article about the book by Ingrid Seward however paints an image of the Queen acting like her daughter Princess Anne: no nonsense and with little empathy and understanding.
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The Queen isn't like that at all. Yes, she is shy and reserved, but she is a very kind, warm and caring lady who cares about her family and her staff.
General News & Information for Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh - Page 15 - The Royal Forums

Anne isn't like her mother at all, she's like her father.

Duc_et_Pair said:
The Queen more acted like an ostrich by sticking her head in the sand: when you don't talk about it, then there is no problem either. So mommy-in-law was not really there to listen to Diana, to lend a shoulder to her and to give counsel. That is the image which is portrayed (not for the first time, other authors have written the same). It seems that only Sarah Ferguson unconditionally won the Queen's heart because her family has been so loyal into the service of various members of the royal family, during various generations: "She is one of us."
Click to expand...

The Queen made herself available to Diana and she tried to help her all the time, but it was not easy to help Diana. The Queen was actually the only family member who still cared about her at the end.

As I wrote in my previous post, Ingrid Seward is a big Diana fan, and much of what she writes / says about the royal family is wrong. But she writes that the Queen showed great interest in Diana, and this is true. She (Ingrid Seward) also has a tendency to change her mind about stuff. I don't find her trustworthy, and I take what she writes / says with a large pinch of salt.

https://www.google.no/url?sa=t&rct=...oEoOSO2Vx3ub0D69A&sig2=RPGxmBiPcq9AFAvILoFC8Q
Frances Shand Kydd in her diary denied that The Queen and Diana did not get on, claiming they had a "lot of mutual respect and admiration".
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This article must be taken with a pinch of salt, especially the last part when he writes about Diana's death.
Diana and The Queen: Her Majesty was the Princess's greatest supporter, sending her to a psychiatrist and hosting a family therapy session | Daily Mail Online

This is the last time I write about this subject.
 
I doubt Diana was on good terms with many people at the time of her death; she was always falling out with people.

She got along very well with Princess Margaret in the beginning, but later Margaret lost all sympathy for her and grew to dislike her.

She and Anne never hit it off; they had little in common, and Diana did not want Anne to be godmother for her sons.

Edward stopped visiting her, she quarreled with Fergie, and didn't get along with most of the Spencers either.

It's difficult to think of anyone Diana was consistently close to.
 
Mirabel said:
[...]

It's difficult to think of anyone Diana was consistently close to.
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Her sons and her father. That will be it. The rest of the people always had the risk in them of making profit from her, or from their friendship with her.

Remember Queen Sofía's words: "Royals have no friends. They have family." (With that remarking to her sister Princess Irene of Greece, the only one Doña Sofía has trusted 100% her whole life). I think Diana was in a similar position, especially when her marriage with the Prince of Wales stranded.
 
How do any of us know who Diana (r.i.p) was or was not close to at any time in her life? Where any of us there? Please, just because we see photographs, read articles lets not believe we know what goes on behind closed doors, in peoples heads or hearts.
 
Well, there is no any person in contemporary history with such a tsunami of books, articles, documentaries, films, interviews, witnesses, comparable with the late Diana, Princess of Wales. We all give our impression on her. We do that for all royals, known and unknown, home and foreign, but Diana really is the most documented one and all the persons in her life, even a faith healer, whatever, are known to the public, especially to those with interest in her life. So maybe if there is a royal we can discuss and have an image, then it is Diana...

The inquests, the hearings and the process, the contents of taped sound and image, the "secret" papers all released in the investigations, the Burrell court case, etc. Really, I think it is unavoidable that we have an image of her, of her friendships, her relationships, the good and the bad and the ugly in her life, etc.
 
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Duc_et_Pair said:
Well, there is no any person in contemporary history with such a tsunami of books, articles, documentaries, films, interviews, witnesses, comparable with the late Diana, Princess of Wales. We all give our impression on her. We do that for all royals, known and unknown, home and foreign, but Diana really is the most documented one and all the persons in her life, even a faith healer, whatever, are known to the public, especially to those with interest in her life. So maybe if there is a royal we can discuss and have an image, then it is Diana...

The inquests, the hearings and the process, the contents of taped sound and image, the "secret" papers all released in the investigations, the Burrell court case, etc. Really, I think it is unavoidable that we have an image of her, of her friendships, her relationships, the good and the bad and the ugly in her life, etc.
Click to expand...
Exactly, we have an image of her.
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
Her sons and her father. That will be it. The rest of the people always had the risk in them of making profit from her, or from their friendship with her.

Remember Queen Sofía's words: "Royals have no friends. They have family." (With that remarking to her sister Princess Irene of Greece, the only one Doña Sofía has trusted 100% her whole life). I think Diana was in a similar position, especially when her marriage with the Prince of Wales stranded.
Click to expand...

She fell out with her father at least once after the wedding(over Raine Spencer) and even she and William were having problems at the time of the Paris tragedy. Their relationship never completely recovered from the Panorama interview, which horrified her eldest son. It caused him huge embarrassment at school.

Unfortunately it's somewhat correct to say that Diana had no truly consistent relationships in her life.
 
To the best of my knowledge, the last Christmas card that Diana, Princess of Wales sent was a non-professional one of her sons and Princesses Beatrice and Eugienie.
 
Hard to believe now, but Sarah was very popular both within the family and with the population at large. At the time, Diana seemed 'stuffy' next to her.

eya said:
:previous: I know neither I also . How times change :whistling:
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There's a definite resemblance in some pictures. When Kate's face was fuller, there was a resemblance to the young Lady Diana, too.:flowers:

Iluvbertie said:
I had to do a double take with that photo of Diana to check who it was because at first glance I thought it was Kate.
Click to expand...
 
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Family relationships, no matter who you are, have it's ups and downs. That's just life for you. I have no doubt that The Queen and members of the royal family were deeply hurt when they learned of Diana's horrible death.
 
Did Diana have a reputation for quarrels, for being moody, and for being difficult, before her marriage?
 
I remember reading Diana being described as "stubborn" and "willful" by nannies, teachers, acquaintances....with at least one also describing her as an "actress".:whistling:

But she was also called sweet, sensitive, helpful and almost preternaturally empathetic.

She was just a very complicated person from the start.
 
Slightly off topic, but I wish we knew more about Diana from people who knew her before her engagement and marriage. Then I think we'd have a better idea of what was her developing personality and how the pressure of being the Princess of Wales might have changed the trajectory.:ermm:
 
Based on her own words and those of her friends/family/teachers etc.....sounds like there were some unhappy parts to her childhood due to the divorce of her parents and separation from her mother. The boarding school seems to have given her stability and some happiness, activities in swimming/dancing etc.

She appeared to have been much like other young girls her age/station of the time after school years...sharing a flat and working, seeing what was to come next.

She really didn't have time to develop past that before she was married. I think the situation surrounding her marriage brought out so many negatives that may not of really been an issue in a different relationship.



LaRae
 
At least one of her former childhood nannies has written a book. Also the American woman whose child Diana looked after before her engagement to Charles wrote a book with very interesting insights into her personality and character.
 
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