Channel 4 and an appalling betrayal of my dear friend Diana
I WAS personal trainer to Princess Diana for seven years, and I am appalled that Channel 4 is planning to broadcast private tapes recorded by her voice coach where she allegedly discloses details of her marriage and criticises the Royal Family. Having worked with the Princess for so many years, I became privy to her deepest secrets. I remember joking with her on many occasions, asking her to please not tell me ‘these things’, because if they got into the Press she would think it was me. It was a genuine worry. Around the time of her separation from Prince Charles, I was training her at a private gym when she became upset about that day’s Press coverage. She burst out crying and said: ‘Jenni, do you think the people believe this?’ I told her that today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chips wrapper! After every gym session, without fail, she would ask me to check if there was any Press waiting outside and then she would work out her exit strategy. Working with this very real person, who had such a big, kind heart, makes it difficult to accept that anyone could spend hours with her, allow her to pour out her heart and then sell her out. She would be devastated. I vowed to be loyal to the Princess when she was alive, and I have carried that vow with me after her death, despite being offered a lot of money. She wrote me a beautiful letter thanking me for being so kind, loyal and supportive to her — it meant the world to me. Diana gave me permission to say that I was her trainer and that’s all I have ever done. Those who have divulged her secrets are clearly mesmerised by the smell of money and their 15 minutes of fame.
JENNI RIVETT, Cambridge.