told me after the event, “they are as hard as nails”. It made me wonder where they got these notions from which made me watch them discreetly at rather close quarters in search of any such traits. I must say that despite often being within earshot of their conversations that I saw none of this and was often bowled over by the odd remark which showed just how surprised they were at what other people would have just taken for granted. Princess Anne had once been the subject of an attempted and nearly successful ambush in Pall Mall. One of our regular chauffeurs had practically saved her life refusing to expose her to the demented gunman. Waking up in a strange, rather small apartment without someone there to relate to did not seem right and I soon pointed this out. I was never and indeed am still not sure whether it is the enormity of the image that make people treat the Royals as objects, of reverence, but objects nevertheless , or self conscious embarrassment at falling apart at the thought of not coming up to standards. I had gone through a bit of that initially but despite my deep and great respect for what they represented, I saw humans with every bit of everything everyone had. It was this that made me simmer in frustration when I saw things done without appreciation of such simple truths. “I´ts us they want in, not them out…”, said a sultry Prince Philip, discussing the barriers put between them and the people. I also sometimes wondered whether the Royals themselves had any choice in the matter and a comment made by an aide with respect to the family being aware of undesirable and undetectable manipulative powers above them, made me wonder too, just how difficult things could be for anyone who did not do things the their pompous way,