While the whole world is eagerly awaiting Prince Harry’s memoirs, 30 years ago it was his mother’s biography that caused an uproar in the British royal family: On June 16, 1992, Andrew Morton’s book “Diana – Her True Story” was published. The writer only revealed after Diana’s death that the Princess of Wales was the main source for the work and that she also edited the manuscript herself. The Netflix series “The Crown” reconstructs how Morton’s book came about in the second episode of season five.
The intermediary between Morton and Diana was the Irish doctor Dr. James Colthurst. The princess and the doctor had a long-standing friendship, Morton and Colthurst met for the first time in the autumn of 1986 on the sidelines of an appointment at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital. Since the early 1980s, Andrew Morton has reported on the royal family for various British media, and he has also published a book about Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah Ferguson. Now his special attention was Princess Diana.
Sensing that Colthurst might be useful to him, he befriended him, the two men agreed to play squash and met for lunch. Eventually, the idea came up to write a book about Diana, in which she could describe her view of life in the royal family. “The Crown” suggests that it was Morton who approached Diana with the idea. In the foreword to his book, however, he writes that Diana asked her friend James Colthurst of her own accord: “Does Andrew want an interview?”
The implementation of the project was at least as spectacular as the plan itself: Between spring and autumn 1991, James Colthurst rode his bike several times to Kensington Palace, where Diana lived with Charles at the time, and smuggled a catalog of questions from Morton to the princess. Diana answered everything, including talking at length about sensitive issues such as her eating disorder, her suicide attempts and Charles’ extramarital relationship with Camilla. Colthurst recorded the statements on a tape recorder, which he in turn passed on to Andrew Morton. So Diana’s words found almost 1:1 in his book. He also interviewed friends and confidants of the princess to support her point of view.
A burglary in Andrew Morton’s office, which the series addresses and which actually happened, shows how delicate the project was. In early 1992, Princess Diana also received a warning that Buckingham Palace knew she was involved in the book. In the series, it’s Prince Philip (played by Jonathan Pryce) who makes that clear to her in a key scene. “We can’t just express our displeasure like in a normal family. Otherwise we end up damaging something much more important: the company. Break as many rules as you like. You can do whatever you want. (…) As long as you keep one condition, one rule: you always remain publicly loyal to your husband and to this family.”
The publication could no longer be prevented. On June 7, 1992, the “Sunday Times” printed the first excerpts from the book. Even the headline on the cover caused a stir. It read: “Diana Driven To Five Suicide Attempts By ‘Insensitive’ Charles”. When Morton’s book came out a few days later, the scandal was complete and everyone knew that the marriage of the then heir to the throne and his wife could no longer be saved. Six months after the book was published, Charles and Diana officially announced their separation.
