Lesley Player. Find her book, it's very interesting and gives an interesting perspective on the whole scandal as well as sets precedent for Sarah who keeps making the same mistakes over and over and over again.
Now, what is she to do? Or what is she doing?
Yes indeed, I think it was Lesley Player to whom you were referring, but could I please add a bit of background information?
I have never read Lesley Player's book, but I can assure you that whatever she and Sarah might think or have said, Lesley Player was NEVER an Official Lady-in-waiting. As I understand it, Sarah was in America [from memory] attending a Charity Polo Match, and not necessarily as part of an Official Royal Engagement. As I understand it, either Major Ron [who was present] or Sarah, asked Lesley Player to 'act as Lady in Waiting for Sarah' as no Official Lady in waiting was present.
Could I be permitted to point out that so far as the BRF is concerned, you can only be a Lady in Waiting if officially appointed as one - it is a matter for BP: the name of the potential LinW is officially put forward [usually by the Private Secretary], Enquiries are made as to the candidate's suitability, [criminal check, background / character check] etc, your abilities as to discretion, conversational ability, knowledge of protocol etc is all assessed and then, and only then, after satisfactory responses, the Queen's approval is sought and given and finally, the Appointment officially announced. A modest allowance is usally paid to [help] cover a Clothes Allowance, a rota of attendances is drawn up.... etc etc. [It used to be the practice to give the LinW a brooch bearing, in diamonds, the initial of the 'Royal' that she served.]
The only variation / exception I can think of to this is on one or two occasions when Princess Diana asked one of her sisters to 'help out'
in the manner of a LinW, but in practice this was NOT official.
Lesley Player was NEVER appointed a LinW and Major Ron and/or Sarah had no power to do so. All they could have done was to ask LP to 'help out', but in whatever capacity she did this, it was NOT in a capacity as LinW whatever LP might have said about it, in her book or anywhere else.
By way of a bit of background information, I did come across Lesley Player hanging round at Guards Polo Club and also The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club. As I have said before, the world of professional polo is one where Royalty and 'flash' weathy international businessmen meet. Polo tournaments are often sponsored by these 'flash businessmen types' or by luxury goods companies such as fashion-houses, jewellers or Champagne houses, often with an
alleged charitable purpose. The idea is that two teams [one containing a 'Royal', historially Prince Charles, more recently William and/or Harry] compete for a trophy. Spectators are charged an entrance fee [some or all of which is given to the Charity to benefit]. The sponsors get their picture with William/ Harry/ Charles, the charity gets some money. All good and proper in theory, but in practice, it is an opportunity to - for want of a better word - 'social climb', and over the years, Royal Princes have found themselves (in my very humble opinion) mixing with some 'flash people' who are not awfully 'good types'. This is NOT snobbery on my part - one or two of the businessmen have been involved in corporate, er, skullduggery - or have even been in prison at some stage - just the sort of people NOT to have in close proximity to royals! To me there is a further complication - there is a very important -albeit unwritten rule - that people should NOT be allowed to 'buy access' to members of the BRF. [The emergence of the 'paid presenter' was one reason why presentations at Court ceased in the 1950's.............]. With sponsorship of polo matches in which members of the BRF play, the sponsor usually gets to shake the hand of the Royal involved.......to me, it is all a little-too-close-to-comfort to 'commercialising' the BRF, even if charity does benefit as well.........
Lesley Player was a woman of some myserious background -whether her fault or not, she gave people to believe that she was a clever astute businesswoman from an impeccable background. In fact, some time later this all turned out to be ''not the whole truth'' - her husband owned a failing car-hire business, Lesley's academic credentials turned out to be more imaginary than real [she spoke of a place at Cambridge (university) although it turned out that her subject was 'Home Ec' [home economics] a subject that is not even recognised at Cambridge. Her mother, far from aristocratic, turned out, I seem to remember, to be a school dinner lady. No shame in that whatsover - so why not be honest about your background?
Player had the 'gift of the gab' though, and began to talk about the possibility of sponsoring a 'Women's Polo Tournament'. She expressed her wish at learning to play Polo, Major Ron [who worked (arranging sponsorship for Polo matches] for both the Guards' Polo Club and the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club at stages of his career] soon came 'in on the act', bringing with him Sarah, whose presence of course 'boosted' the profile of particular polo matches she was involved with [usually as a trophy presenter....] But, as I have said, there was no real 'wealth' or 'substance' or even what I shall politey call 'integrity' so far as Ms Player was concerned. Major Ron did find her attractive though, and many of the broadsheet papers [not just the tabloids] ran stories of an affair. Poor old Sarah therefore found herself caught up again in the scandals, this time due mainly to the fault of Major Ron. From memory, Lesley Player's business then failed messily, there was talk of bankruptcy...you get the picture...
It is the same old story. Poor Sarah just cannot avoid getting caught up in trouble. As I [and others] keep on saying, her only real opportunity to progress to a happy and stable future is to keep away from scandal. It has a habit of catching up with her even when things are NOT her direct fault, as is the case with the Lesley Player affair. Sarah desperately needs a sensible person to guide her throughout; and Sarah has to follow that guidance and NOT try to hide things or keep things secret; her aides apparently were kept in the dark about the 'cash-for-access' scandal; anyone hearing of Sarah's plans to 'sell Andrew' would presumbably have said 'No'. I just don't know how anyone can ever get through to Sarah to give her the help and guidance that she so obviously needs, even if she does not realise it..... AT the end of the day, she is not really as astute a business woman as she thinks she is.....