And of course, it is a matter of record that several close friends of Diana's, who were very much part of William's early life as well [ I can immediately think of Lady Annabel Goldsmith (who Diana used to visit most weekends with William and Harry for Sunday lunch), Lucia Flecha de Lima, Diana's very close friend and confdante] were not invited to the wedding. I am sure that if the guest list had been about 'doing the right thing', then they would have received what I will call 'obligation invitations' if you see what I mean. But they didn't. And I put Sarah's invitation in the 'obligation' rather than 'friends and family' category.
I only know what I have heard over the years, and this counts really only as 'polo talk', but people often say that after the early years of Sarah's marriage, Diana was not always that close to Sarah. I've even been told - whether it is true or not is another matter - that Diana was quite astute sometimes about Fergie's possibly 'bad' influence on the monarchy, and this was apparently why, at times, Diana sought to distance herself from Sarah. Some people seem to take the view that Diana was 'anti-monarchy', citing in support Diana's various acts of duplicity [Andrew Morton Book, Panorama etc]. Fair enough. But I am pretty sure that in many ways Diana was a supporter of the institution of monarchy- after all, she seemed to place great value on the fact that William was going to be king, and therefore did take various appropriate steps to ensure that he was well prepared - and that Harry was brought up carefully to ensure that he felt no less advantaged, no less loved etc. I am sure that at times Diana saw the real danger that Sarah could have posed to the monarchy, which could perhaps have led to a greater questioning of whether William could still succeed as King, and I therefore speculate that her apparent distancing of Sarah on just these occasions would have impacted on William's perceptions of Sarah as well.
It's this sort of distancing that I find myself thinking about when considering how Harry apparently -and astutely - kept his distance from Sarah and perhaps Beatrice and Eugenie as well [as the York females seemed to be a complete packgage on this occasion] during the City fundraising trading day. Common sense and sense of family would have suggested to me that he would have spent a little time with his cousins if their mother had not been there.
Alex
just my thoughts, and as ever, not meant to offend.
I only know what I have heard over the years, and this counts really only as 'polo talk', but people often say that after the early years of Sarah's marriage, Diana was not always that close to Sarah. I've even been told - whether it is true or not is another matter - that Diana was quite astute sometimes about Fergie's possibly 'bad' influence on the monarchy, and this was apparently why, at times, Diana sought to distance herself from Sarah. Some people seem to take the view that Diana was 'anti-monarchy', citing in support Diana's various acts of duplicity [Andrew Morton Book, Panorama etc]. Fair enough. But I am pretty sure that in many ways Diana was a supporter of the institution of monarchy- after all, she seemed to place great value on the fact that William was going to be king, and therefore did take various appropriate steps to ensure that he was well prepared - and that Harry was brought up carefully to ensure that he felt no less advantaged, no less loved etc. I am sure that at times Diana saw the real danger that Sarah could have posed to the monarchy, which could perhaps have led to a greater questioning of whether William could still succeed as King, and I therefore speculate that her apparent distancing of Sarah on just these occasions would have impacted on William's perceptions of Sarah as well.
It's this sort of distancing that I find myself thinking about when considering how Harry apparently -and astutely - kept his distance from Sarah and perhaps Beatrice and Eugenie as well [as the York females seemed to be a complete packgage on this occasion] during the City fundraising trading day. Common sense and sense of family would have suggested to me that he would have spent a little time with his cousins if their mother had not been there.
Alex
just my thoughts, and as ever, not meant to offend.
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