Diana's Secret Tapes Recorded in March 1997


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"She makes it clear that she would do everything possible to make sure Charles never became King. She wanted William to succeed to the Throne when the Queen died. Diana clearly saw her role as the power behind William. She had this somewhat romantic idea of being a king-maker -- the mother behind the monarch", said the source.[snip]

How revealing ! :eek:
 
[...] it wasn't Camllia's place to get involved. She would have done better to have sorted out her own marriage.

What does that say about the Princess of Wales, the future Queen, making herself at least accessible to a cavalry officer (Mr Hewitt), to a car salesman ("Squidgygate" Mr Gilbey), to a protection officer (Mr Mannakee), to an art dealer (Mr Hoare), to a medical surgeon (Mr Khan) and to a playboy (Mr Al Fayed)?

Also the last one was already around the Princess during marriage, according to the butler, referring to his memo's and instructions left by Diana. It seemed Diana thought Mr Al Fayed was instrumental in the her liaisons dangereuses "to win back Mr Khan". In the end the Marquise de Merteuil, eh, pardon, ... I mean, Diana, Princess of Wales, felt for Mr Al Fayed himself.

So spare any blaming towards Camilla because Diana herself was in no any position to blame anyone else at all...
 
It all adds up to one person being a manipulator. Manipulation of people. Manipulation of opinion. Manipulation of getting what one wants. Manipulation of listening to the voices in her head telling her to manipulate to achieve her own ends.

Proves one thing. One cannot manipulate someone to feel love and adoration through machinations to "show" them. Love is built on trust, compromise, caring and compromise. Diana showed none of these traits in her private life but strove to achieve those for herself. I'd go as far to even say that a suspicious nature was her greatest enemy.
 
Undoubtedly, the most revealing part of her video diaries is how Diana saw her future.

"She makes it clear that she would do everything possible to make sure Charles never became King. She wanted William to succeed to the Throne when the Queen died. Diana clearly saw her role as the power behind William. She had this somewhat romantic idea of being a king-maker -- the mother behind the monarch", said the source.

He explained that the cameraman had told him last week that his abiding memory from the videos was of a very determined princess that nothing would stand in her way.


[snip]


If she didn't know it already, someone should have told Diana that making William the next king ahead of a living Charles would require an act of the UK parliament, which would then have to be confimed by separate legislation in various Commonwealth realms (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc.) as was the case with the recent Succession to Crown Act, which took about 2 years or so to be ratified and come into force. I doubt the politicians in all involved countries would go along with it based solely on the PoW's extramarital affairs, unless of course Charles himself willingly wanted to renounce his succession rights. It appears to me then that Diana was being completely delusional if she thought it was within her power to have any meaningful influence on that matter.

What does that say about the Princess of Wales, the future Queen, making herself at least accessible to a cavalry officer (Mr Hewitt), to a car salesman ("Squidgygate" Mr Gilbey), to a protection officer (Mr Mannakee), to an art dealer (Mr Hoare), to a medical surgeon (Mr Khan) and to a playboy (Mr Al Fayed)?

I don't see the point of going back to that discussion, but it suffices to say that Diana's affairs are public knowledge as was Camilla's relation with Charles. Those who are on "camp Diana" so to speak (who still seem to be most of the public 20 years later) will always forgive her transgressions on the premise that "Charles is to blame because he cheated first and treated her badly". I am not saying I agree with that; I'm just pointing out that raising Diana's infidelities will have no meaningful effect on the opinion of those who already decided a long time ago that she was the victim in this story. Her tragic demise just hardened the sympathy people had towards her. Had she stayed alive and carried on with dating Mr Al Fayed or similar boyfriends, perceptions might have started to change and public opinion could have turned against her.
 
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What does that say about the Princess of Wales, the future Queen, making herself at least accessible to a cavalry officer (Mr Hewitt), to a car salesman ("Squidgygate" Mr Gilbey), to a protection officer (Mr Mannakee), to an art dealer (Mr Hoare), to a medical surgeon (Mr Khan) and to a playboy (Mr Al Fayed)?

Also the last one was already around the Princess during marriage, according to the butler, referring to his memo's and instructions left by Diana. It seemed Diana thought Mr Al Fayed was instrumental in the her liaisons dangereuses "to win back Mr Khan". In the end the Marquise de Merteuil, eh, pardon, ... I mean, Diana, Princess of Wales, felt for Mr Al Fayed himself.

So spare any blaming towards Camilla because Diana herself was in no any position to blame anyone else at all...

Well the difference is that Diana didn't look elsewhere through choice. She wanted her husband and actually asked Camilla to keep back from him but to avail. She was the only one out of the 2 couples involved who couldn't deal with the situation. Andrew P-B didn't seem to give a fig that his wife was sleeping with Charles and Camilla accepted his affairs too. Diana was the only normal one among these dysfunctional and immoral fruitcakes. Can you imagine Kate accepting William having a mistress? No chance and Diana was no different.
 
I disagree. Diana wanted what Diana wanted and did what Diana wanted to do when Diana wanted to do it and was very selective of who was "in" and who was "out" in her favor. For Diana, the world had to revolve around her and what she wanted and when she didn't get the adoration and love and 100% being put on a pedestal that is typical of a paperback romance, there was someone else always handy to blame.

Just her thinking of the statement presented in a post further upthread that ""She makes it clear that she would do everything possible to make sure Charles never became King. She wanted William to succeed to the Throne when the Queen died. Diana clearly saw her role as the power behind William. She had this somewhat romantic idea of being a king-maker -- the mother behind the monarch", said the source." shows that Diana wasn't dealing with a full deck. Diana wanted what Diana wanted and didn't think things through or take other people into consideration.
 
Well the difference is that Diana didn't look elsewhere through choice..

Lol you always look elsewhere throught choice.
So her affairs were maybe "accidental", and when she said she was madly in love with Manakee and James Hewitt it was accidental as well ?

They were ALL looking elsewhere, and Diana was not exception. When caught, she had just enough stamina to say it was not her fault.

Anyway it's always the same debate...
 
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Even the egotistical Hewitt conceded that Charles was the only man she wanted and that if he'd loved her back she'd never have got involved with anyone else. That's backed up by her devastation at the Camilla affair when the rest of the parties involved were perfectly a ease with the whole seedy set up.
 
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I'm going to :hiding: since I'm jumping in the middle of a debate here; though I'm just popping in to say that I watched half an hour of the documentary that was about her other tapes last night (there isn't a thread for them so I thought here would be the best place to mention it) but soon switched over to something else as I realised it was not worth watching. Not only did it have a very anti-monarchy vibe but it was also a large invasion of privacy. I don't believe that the tapes should have been aired on television like this; out of respect for Diana given the fact that she is sadly deceased. If I were William and Harry I would not have been comfortable having had my mother's love life and private thoughts shared to millions of strangers.
 
Even the egotistical Hewitt conceded that Charles was the only man she wanted and that if he'd loved her back she'd never have got involved with anyone else.

Maybe, maybe not.
In any event, you can't force love.
The heart wants what it wants, as someone once famously said.


I don't think these tapes show anyone in a decent light.
Charles and Camilla will probably suffer most, because Diana is beyond where anything can hurt her.
 
Let's remember to keep the discussion about the tapes, please.
 
Well the difference is that Diana didn't look elsewhere through choice. She wanted her husband and actually asked Camilla to keep back from him but to avail. She was the only one out of the 2 couples involved who couldn't deal with the situation. Andrew P-B didn't seem to give a fig that his wife was sleeping with Charles and Camilla accepted his affairs too. Diana was the only normal one among these dysfunctional and immoral fruitcakes. Can you imagine Kate accepting William having a mistress? No chance and Diana was no different.
Both Charles and Diana said that they both tried to make their marriage work. When Diana confronted Camila, it was after both she and Charles had taken other lovers, James Hewitt, Camilla, et. al. According to Diana, she adored and was in love with James Hewitt, she also said that she was deeply in love with Barry Mannakee, has adult Diana ever proclaimed her love for Charles the way she did for those two? Anyhoo, I digress. I don't think that the reason Diana could not deal with the arrangement was because she was "normal" and had such high moral standards and regard for the sanctity of marriage vis a vis Charles, Camilla and Andrew, rather she could not deal with it because she had yet to find a long-term partner, and she also could not withstand her image being tarnished by it becoming known that she was an adulteress. I think that it stuck in her craw that Charles found contentment with Camilla, and I furthermore think that it became easy for her to engage in some form of transference where, rather than taking responsibility for her own actions and flaws, or accepting certain things, she re-directed her frustrations and disappointments towards Charles and Camilla.

ETA:
Let's remember to keep the discussion about the tapes, please.
Sorry, I was in draft mode when this was posted.

The connection to the tapes is that Diana's "most stringent criticism" in the tapes was directed at Charles and Camila.
 
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I don't believe Diana ever admitted to an affair with Barry M. or stated she was deeply in love with him....James Hewitt yes on the 'infamous' Panaroma interview.


LaRae
 
Ah gotcha ..I've never heard any of the 'secret tapes'


LaRae
 
I don't believe Diana ever admitted to an affair with Barry M. or stated she was deeply in love with him....James Hewitt yes on the 'infamous' Panaroma interview.


LaRae

Diana said in the Settelen tapes that she fell deeply in love with Mannakee, she also said, "I was quite happy to give all of this up ... just to go and live with him." IIRC Diana denied that she had a physical relationship with Mannakee.
 
Right that's all I remembered ever being said...the secret tapes are 'new' to me really.


LaRae
 
Diana was the only normal one among these dysfunctional and immoral fruitcakes.

Spectacular morsel of 'value JUDGEMENT' there...
 
The upper circles will not appreciate grand gestures. The owner of the tapes does not commit a crime. He is fully entitled to profit from the tapes, which belong to him legally.

Prince Charles proved ineffective in managing his family and his staff.
 
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The upper circles in the west do not appreciate gestures of good will. The owner of the tapes does not commit a crime. He is fully entitled to profit from the tapes, which belong to him legally.

Prince Charles proved ineffective in managing his family and his staff.

The legal owner of the tapes may not have committed an illegal act but it is morally questionable.

What does Prince Charles and the management of his family and staff have to do with this?
 
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:previous: I can't make any sense out of it either. :eek:
 
The legal owner of the tapes may not have committed an illegal act but it is morally questionable.

What does Prince Charles and the management of his family and staff have to do with this?
If Prince Charles were effective in managing his family and his staff, he would have avoided awkward situations.

It is odd to see the constant repetition about the morally questionable deed.
 
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For those who don't know who Barry Mannakee was - PPO, married with 2 children.

Killed while riding pillion on a motorbike by a newly qualified car driver in 1987
 
I believe that Diana felt close to Mannakee solely for the reason that being her PPO, it was his job to be by her side at all times. He kind of became a port in storm for a Diana that found herself to be unhappy in many ways with her marriage.

I don't believe that Mannakee and Diana ever took it to a physical level but they were close. That closeness was the reason he was transferred out of being in Diana's service. If I had to describe how I saw their relationship, I would put it at being a close, intimate friendship. Someone Diana could confide in and feel listened to her and was there for her (although that was his job). I don't doubt that she "loved" Mannakee but loving someone doesn't mean jumping into bed with them all the time.

Just my take on it.
 
I believe that Diana felt close to Mannakee solely for the reason that being her PPO, it was his job to be by her side at all times. He kind of became a port in storm for a Diana that found herself to be unhappy in many ways with her marriage.

I don't believe that Mannakee and Diana ever took it to a physical level but they were close. That closeness was the reason he was transferred out of being in Diana's service. If I had to describe how I saw their relationship, I would put it at being a close, intimate friendship. Someone Diana could confide in and feel listened to her and was there for her (although that was his job). I don't doubt that she "loved" Mannakee but loving someone doesn't mean jumping into bed with them all the time.

Just my take on it.

I thought that in the tapes she said "he was the love of my life" and was prepared to give up everything to be with him.

That's either the truth or she was exaggerating or fantasising. But none of it is good.
 
I thought that in the tapes she said "he was the love of my life" and was prepared to give up everything to be with him.

That's either the truth or she was exaggerating or fantasising. But none of it is good.

Could have very well been the mindset of someone with Barbara Cartland ideas of "happily ever after". She was also deeply and totally in love with Hewitt too until that went sour. A lot of the indications of Diana's mindset with men, to me, wasn't based in reality. She was conniving marriage plans with Dr. Khan too and trying to finagle him work in South Africa, I believe it was, for their "happily ever after" until she got the message that Khan wasn't interested in marriage to her. Seems like every man she admired was the "love of her life" in some form or the other. They all become some kind of an obsession with her until, for some reason or the other, life enters into the picture and the "happily ever after" gets tainted with reality.
 
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I thought that in the tapes she said "he was the love of my life" and was prepared to give up everything to be with him.

That's either the truth or she was exaggerating or fantasising. But none of it is good.

I think she was imagining a perfect fantasy life. She seems to have done that with some of her lovers as well. The more that comes out, in her own words via the tapes, the more it seems Diana had a tenuous grasp of reality.

I cannot make sense of how she thought she could put William on the throne in his father's place. This isn't the 13th century.

I also don't understand how she could have affairs with or be after married men, when she was so bitter about Charles and Camilla. Osipi said up thread Diana wanted what she wanted--I think that is true.
 
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:previous:

Agree with this, which is why I find it hard to believe what she says.

And that includes her stories about Charles
 
So all in all, I think from reading all the responses here about these tapes is that, in the long run, they didn't do Diana any favors nor were they in any way something that really needed to be put out there to the public. :D
 
It does not work that way in our enlightened Western regime as you like to call it. People do not "manage" other people nor is the husband of any more importance in a marriage than the wife. That is why your statement of Prince Charles "managing" his family so preposterous to us lowly beings that disregard human decency.

Perhaps its different in your neck of the woods where women are still treated as inferior beings? Just guessing.


I just had tea come thru my nose! :lol:


LaRae
 
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