Diana: In Pursuit of Love by Andrew Morton Read Free Book Online Page B

successfully sued an author who had inadvertently linked Camilla to Charles, the prospect of fighting a court case was very real. We needed independent proof of Diana’s assertions that her husband was engaged in a long-term affair with Mrs Parker Bowles.
    In late August 1991, irked because I seemed to be doubting her word, the Princess, who was staying at Balmoral, rummagedthrough her husband’s briefcase and came across a cache of letters. In doing this she exposed herself to the cold and conclusive realization – rather than the abstract suspicion – that another woman was in love with her husband, and that that love was clearly returned. The letters – and a couple of saucy postcards – which I was shown in August 1991 were from Camilla Parker Bowles. As Diana read the passionate letters it was quite evident to her that Camilla, who called Charles ‘My most precious darling’, was a woman whose love remained undimmed in spite of the passage of time and the difficulties of pursuing the object of her affection.
    The tone of the letters was adoring. I recall the lengths to which Camilla went to contact Charles, on one occasion writing to him while secreted away in a lavatory on the Queen Mother’s ninety-first birthday, 4 August 1991. ‘I just hate not being able to tell you how much I love you,’ she wrote. The note, on her headed writing paper, continued in a similar vein, saying how much she longed to be with him and that she was his for ever. I particularly remember one vivid passage that read, ‘My heart and body both ache for you.’
    She apologized for breaking into gibberish during a secret phone call with Prince Charles, blaming her husband in a memorable turn of phrase: ‘The erstwhile silver stick appeared through the door looking like a furious stoat – pity they did not stuff him.’ It was a sentence that stuck in my mind because Brigadier Parker Bowles had held the largely ceremonial post of ‘Silver Stick in Waiting’ to the Queen. I recall that she went on to proclaim her undying affection for Prince Charles with phrases like, ‘I yearn to be with you day and night, to hug, comfort and love you.’ She reminisced about a ‘magical night’ with her prince at a friend’s country house, lamenting the difficulties of their illicit relationship. ‘I dread the acting part,’ she wrote, referring to a forthcoming lunch where she, with her husband in tow, was to join Prince Charles.
    As Diana absorbed the depth of her rival’s love she was also able to see the extent of the duplicity that her husband and his lover connived in to pursue their affair. In one of the letters, Camilla reflected that the long periods of separation were a test of her love and affection for him. She carefully outlined the dates and places when she was available to see him while her husband and childrenwere away. It must have been horrible for Diana to realize that the venues where Mrs Parker Bowles might meet Charles included the homes of people she called her friends.
    Just as shocking to Diana must have been the letter which referred personally to her in very unflattering terms. Camilla advised Charles to erase any thoughts of guilt about their relationship from his mind and rise above what she termed ‘the onslaughts of that ridiculous creature’ – clearly a reference to Diana.
    Calling herself ‘your devoted old bag’, Camilla reminded the Prince that she loved him above all others, and signed off, ‘Your hopelessly besotted old friend’. Having read this sheaf of passionate love letters Diana told Colthurst that any hopes she might have harboured of saving her ten-year-old marriage were doomed.
    The glimpse we were given of the letters removed any doubts we might have had about Diana’s tale of woe, but they cut little ice with the libel lawyer we saw in February 1992. We were, of course, unable to tell the lawyer of Diana’s involvement in the book and he did not ask how we had had sight of the letters.