SONS CONTINUE HER WORK
True disbelief, then the grief hit us so hard Popularity of monarchy is down to her
WHEN I was called out of my bed in the early hours 20 years ago to deliver the news on GMTV that Diana had died, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
I fumbled around for a black suit, hoping that somehow the news wasn’t true; that I wouldn’t have to wear it. I wore it. I was still barely coming to terms with the shock, the emotion, the enormity of what had happened as I sat there and delivered it.
Viewers couldn’t take it in either. Our switchboard became jammed with callers needing to share their grief, heartbroken for “the little princes” who’d lost the person whose love wrapped around them, kept them safe and made them smile.
Diana lives on in William and Harry not just in the ready smiles but the oceans of emotional intelligence she passed on. They might have had royalty thrust upon them but they understand that openness, a kind word, a listening ear, a sincere smile and a human touch can quell a tidal wave of troubles. She would have been so proud of them both. TWENTY years ago I spent the week travelling the country reporting on people struggling to come to terms with the loss of a magical princess.
As a life-long republican, it’s fair to say I’ve had better jobs.
I wasn’t anti-Diana. I’d admired her jaw-dropping TV interview in which she exposed the sham marriage she was lured into.
But those surreal days spent staring at tears and flowers were hard. Until something wonderful happened. People holding Union Jacks began to question the Royal Family. While the Windsors stayed locked in Balmoral and The Queen refused to address their grief, her revolting subjects let their anger be known.
It felt like the nation was seeing, for the first time, a cynical aristocratic clan whose only concern was selfpreservation. But the feeling didn’t last. Twenty years on, the monarchy is as popular as ever.
It almost certainly owes this to the children of the woman who came closest to destroying it.