The Observer, 28th September 2003The monarchy in Australia is a delicate relic, preserved through lack of a coherent alternative as much as through loyalty to the crown. Its fragility is being further tested in the current media cyclone . . .
The Observer, 19 October 2003Camilla Parker-Bowles is back in the news. This time she’s not dressed in jodhpurs chasing foxes across the shires. Last week’s newspapers show her instead at a glitzy fundraiser at the Royal Albert Hall with a new dress and a new hairstyle. More significantly she also has a sharp new line in PR which, if the Daily Mail’s show business correspondent is to be believed, has successfully seen her crowned "queen among the royalty of the fashion and music worlds…"
The Sun, 25th October 2003When I worked for Princess Diana it sometimes felt like a new crisis erupted every week. It seemed that every Saturday was ruined by the thought of what new royal scandal the Sunday papers were about to explode . . .
Sunday Telegraph, 26th October 2003Paul Burrell was on the edge of tears. I couldn’t hear the words but I could see the pleading in his eyes . . .
Daily Mail, 7th November 2003"Whatever’s going to come out at the end may as well come out at the beginning." It’s an old political maxim and its enduring truth is obvious to anyone who can remember photographs of shamefaced public figures, driven from the spotlight by some all-too human failing.
Sunday Telegraph, 16 November 2003Monarchists are probably looking back at the latest royal media convulsion with weary disbelief. Republicans must look back with glee. . .
The Sun, 8th January 2004It’s high time somebody told the conspiracy-mongers to put up or shut up. Mr Burgess will deal in hard evidence not in theories . . .
Sunday Telegraph, 4th April 2004Poor William. One of his worst fears has been realised: he has been stalked, photographed and exploited. This is harassment and the culprits have rubbed salt in the wound by claiming that such covert pictures enable his fans back home to share his alleged joy at having “got a girl.”
Sunday Telegraph, 4th July 2004Diana stood at the head of the silent crowd for two long minutes while I watched the police snipers methodically sweep the rooftops through their rifle sights . . .
Sunday Telegraph, 13th February 2005Love is in the air and I’m as romantic as the next chap. I’d like to believe – to quote a dozen dewy eyed tabloid columnists – that love conquers all . . .
London Evening Standard, 23rd February 2005It’s tempting to find a juicy conspiracy theory behind the Queen’s announcement that she won’t be going to her son’s second marriage ceremony. It’s a poisonous legal stew, say the lawyers, salivating. The constitutional implications are severe, say the doom watchers happily. It’s a snub, say the newspapers. No, she’s just respecting Charles’s brilliant decision to make it a low-key ceremony, say Clarence House. Pull the other one, say the rest of us.
Sunday Telegraph, 27th March 2005"I hope you’re not going to be horrid about poor Prince Charles," said my friend the priest when she heard that I might be asked to write about the troubled royal wedding . . .
Mail on Sunday, 3 April 2005It’s ironic that Charles has devoted so much energy and credibility to causes that are not strictly central to his role – grey goo or climate change come to mind – yet seems prepared to sabotage the one issue that could be described as his real job: protecting and preserving our constitution.
Sunday Telegraph Review section, 3rd April 2005Calling for blessings on the Prince is not much in fashion here at the moment. Calling for blessings on his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles even less so . . .
Sunday Telegraph, 10th April 2005Whether you think of Camilla as a wicked usurper or as the bright new jewel in our national crown, she will now be part of the family . . .
Daily Mail, 3rd September 2005If you seriously want to test Diana’s enduring popularity, ask in America or India, China or Wooloomaloo: 'who’s the beautiful British Princess with the amazing blue eyes?' and they will identify her as quickly as they would identify a picture of David Beckham or Pope John Paul.
Mail on Sunday, 6th November 2005Mrs Markcrow’s tragic story will have an acutely poignant resonance for all families who have been blessed with the experience of raising a Down’s syndrome child. It will be even more acute for those who have had the added, and sometimes very mixed, blessing of watching a Down’s child grow to adolescence… to adulthood… and ultimately to the early death that nature has ordained for these special people.
Daily Mail, 22nd February 2006The current wrangle over the leaking of "the great Chinese takeaway" raises a question about what constitutes "privacy" when it comes to Charles’s dissident views. It also poses a question about the desirability of having our next unelected head of state interpreting his role in this way.
The Queen is Eighty Mail on Sunday,19th April 2006Everybody has a Queen moment. Mine came when I was ten years old. She was just a flash of Royal profile in the back of a Rolls-Royce, but it still brightened a rainy morning in a grey Scottish town. We'd been excused an hour of maths so we could stand in the cold to pay our moment of respect. It seemed a very fair deal to me and I became a fan of Her Majesty on the spot.
Mail on Sunday, 19th March 2006"In short, an excellent outcome" exults Prince Charles’s principal private secretary, declaring victory in the prince’s breach of copyright case against the MoS. His relief is infectious, and understandable. But there might also be a hint of dismay that Charles still faces months more litigation and revelation…
Revelations 15th June 2006A former secretary in Prince Charles’s office is to publish her memoirs. From initial reports they are a light-hearted Bridget Jones style trot through a decade of what we can assume was satisfactory service. Predictably the Prince is huffing and puffing. The inevitable source tells us that he feels a sense of "betrayal."
The Guardian Saturday Essay, 24th June 2006Last Saturday was the Queen’s official birthday. The military splendour of Trooping the Colour evokes strong passions in all loyal subjects. My contribution to the special day was to lie in bed too long before hurriedly donning the full dress uniform of the weekend freelance writer: flip flops, shorts and a baggy tee shirt. Plus a big hat to keep the sun off.
Daily Express, 24th June 2006Inside a royal aeroplane there’s a special kind of excitement as the doors are about to open. If it’s for the start of a big foreign tour – if there is a president waiting at the bottom of the steps and the world’s press penned on the tarmac – than the excitement verges on the hyper . . .
Diana - The Legacy Daily Express, 24th June 2006Criticising Diana only seemed to make her a more sympathetic figure, especially once it was known that her husband had a non-negotiable arrangement with Mrs Parker Bowles. Diana’s own unhappiness and misjudgements just seemed to make her more intuitive at understanding our own.
The Spectator, 7th September 2006Any attempt to portray the edgy atmosphere of the week Diana died will touch a nerve in anyone who witnessed such unprecedented scenes of public grief . . .
Mail on Sunday Travel Section 29th April 2007It’s easy to love Curaçao, especially at this time of year while the island is covered with spring blossom on the kibrahaja trees . . .
Mail on Sunday Live Magazine May 2007If Harley Davidson made a seaplane, this would be it. The big radial engine rumbles with the lazy power of 450 horses, the wing struts look like they’ve been borrowed from a locomotive . . .
Hello! Magazine 1st May 2007The church bells will not ring out for William and Kate. So let’s get over it. As Clarence House points out, in an eloquently terse statement, it’s a private matter . . .
The Daily Express, 26 May 07Prince Charles spends a great deal of money and man-hours on media relations, not least where his wife is concerned. Unfortunately, all that investment doesn’t automatically buy popularity – as the Express poll shows.
Look before you leap Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2007'Diana: the Witnesses in the Tunnel' has suffered a fate common to many programmes about the late Princess of Wales. Before broadcast it has been roundly condemned, mostly by people who have not seen it.
“The Diana Chronicles” by Tina Brown, 4th July 07I’m sitting next to Princes Diana as her limousine carries us slowly through Kensington Gardens. I know it’s a dream but I can’t wake up. In fact I’m not sure I want to.
The driver is taking it cautiously because we are using pedestrian footways through the park and we don’t want to begin the evening by running over a pet dog – or worse.
It’s an unusual route but the police have decided it’s the best way to reach the Serpentine Gallery - a picturesque 19th Century lodge in the prettiest corner of London’s Hyde Park that usually displays cutting-edge modern art.
The Diana Inquest 10th Oct 2007“I expect Diana’s ghost is smiling as she watches all this fuss about the Inquest.”
So said a friend last week. It made me think. While it’s always nice to remember the princess’s smile, part of me also remembered her impatience with unnecessary formality. During the eight years in which I ran her public life, I was kept on my toes by Diana’s eye for detail, her astonishing memory – especially for faces – and by her diligence with her paperwork.
Radio Times article, The Palace 08th February 2008
For eight years, Patrick Jephson was Princess Diana’s
equerry and private secretary. As script
advisor to the new ITV drama series
The Palace he was relieved to discover that the writers
have populated their fictional royal world with real royal dilemmas but no real
royal people.“FLYING HIGH” - Ritz Magazine - March 08David Savile is CEO of Air Partner, the world’s largest supplier of bespoke air travel. He’s a natural enthusiast, eager to tell the story of his dynamic company which recently posted its third successive record financial results. But as I discover, he also knows how to protect its well-deserved reputation for discretion.