Diana has been betrayed by so many, says mother
by Caroline Davies, Telegraph, Aug 31, 2002

Five years after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales her mother has attacked the commercialisation surrounding the anniversary and spoken of those who have betrayed her daughter's trust by selling stories about her.

Frances Shand Kydd said: "I think memories are kept in the heart and the commercialisation of my daughter Diana's death has gone way beyond the limits of decency and sensitivity." She hoped that people would be "more sensitive" to Princess William and Harry and the rest of her family "and would undersand that it is quite hard for us to be dragged into the arena time and time again."

The interview, filmed for ITV's My Favourite Hymns, took place at Mrs Shand Kydd's home on the island of Seil, off the Scottish west coast near Oban, in July - before she had knowledge of the publication this week of the book Diana: Closely Guarded Secret by Ken Wharfe, the princess's former bodyguard. The programme will be shown on ITV1 at 10.50am tomorrow.

Mrs Shand Kydd is forthright in condemning those who have made money out of her daughter.

"I am certainly disappointed that since her death so many people she trusted have broken that trust and, for financial gain, have spilled the beans, so to speak. I believe that trust is for life, natural life. Even if one half goes to the grave, it does not release you from the bond of trust. It is sad for her that so many people failed her in that department".

Mrs Shand Kydd, a devout Roman Catholic, also talks about her great regret that she was unable to see her daughter's body after she was killed in a car crash in Paris on Aug 31. She was unable even to tell anybody about the death for an hour after she was informed of it until officials had been told. "That seemed to me very off, if not insensitive, that I, her mother, could not tell anyone she was dead because of a rule book from somewhere else.

"I remember being very surprised and rather hurt that I was not consulted about collecting her body or asked to go to Paris to do so. That seemed very tough. It meant that I never saw her when she had died and, for a member of the Catholic Church, you are encouraged to see dead people, your dear ones. So it was a bit harsh."

The princess had consulted her on "everything - personal, family and state," she said. "She had been pensive, unhappy for some years in her marriage and had rung me day and night." Mrs Shand Kydd praised the emotional speech given by her son, Earl Spencer, at his sister's funeral in Westminister Abbey and did not agree that it was a direct attack on the Royal Family.

"I thought it was the finest expression of articulate brotherly love," she said. "He spoke brilliantly from the heart - he was honest, raw honest."

DIANA'S MOTHER'S LETTER (reader sends in "I Thank God for the Gift of Diana", by Frances Shand-Kydd)

Reader is trying to find the essay or letter Diana's Mother wrote shortly after her death

Princess Diana's mother dies. Daily Mirror, Jun 3, 2004

Diana's mother dies peacefully. BBC, Jun 3, 2004
Mrs Shand Kydd was last seen in public in 2002, when she spoke at the Old Bailey trial of royal butler Paul Burrell, before it collapsed..."She was a very kind and caring person who loved her daughter, the Princess of Wales, very much."

PEOPLE'S PRINCESS & PRINCESS'S PEOPLE