A Royal Duty [antikvár]

Preface The princess died at four a.m. in a hospital in Paris on Sunday 31 August 1997. The last time I saw her was when she was waving goodbye from the back of her BMW, being driven away from the front door of Kensington Palace on Friday 15 August. The previous day, we had been to Waterstones bookshop in Kensington High Street. We drove because time was tight, and we didn't fancy walking back with what she called her 'heavy reading matter': half a dozen books, hardback and paperback, on spirituality, psychology and healing. She put them in the boot and got into the front passenger seat, and we headed back to the palace so she could finish packing with assistance from her dresser, Angela Benjamin. As we tumed into the palace drive, she was in a relaxed mood. 'I'm looking forward to a quiet holiday, good company and lots of light reading!' Her friend Rosa Monckton had hired a yacht with a crew of four to sail her and the princess around the Greek islands on a six-day Mediterranean hoHday. When she returned, the princess was due to go on hoUday with another female friend, Lana Marks, for a five-day break to Italy, staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in Milan. She had not intended to spend that final week of August with Dodi A1 Fayed. Reservations had been made and flights booked for her to be with Lana. That holiday was cancelled at the last minute because Lana's father died suddenly, which left the princess at a loose end until the boys retumed to Kensington Palace on 31 August. She accepted Dodi's offer to spend more time with him on the Jonikal, cruising around the French Riviera and Sardinia. Before she flew out to join Dodi, she would be back at the palace for one day, on 21 August, but I wouldn't be there because 1 had deliberately booked my family hoHday to Naas, in the Repubhc of Ireland, to fit in with the princess. As she finalized her packing on 15 August to head off to the airport, 1 was sharing that demob-happy feeHng as 1 waited with Rosa inside KP. 'We must do something