He went a bright pink to start off with and when I continued to try and explain what I meant. “ How can you really communicate meaningfully with all those people and not upset the ones who feel slighted ? “ I finally got the answer “A matter of technique”. And thereby hangs the tail. A technique to do in minutes what it takes most of us to establish in hours. Royals therefore make up their own rules as they go along and sometimes going against what has been drilled into them over the decades by overcautious and often unworldly advisors. I was asked questions every now and then by close aides like “Are these tours worth it ?” (during the bad press period of the Moroccan tour) and “Is it time to get closer to the people ?” Both instinctive, emphatic yeses from me with notes of caution. I suspected that the final recipient was not around. I was always taken aback at sudden demands for what appeared to be instant answers and I took note of the direction from which they appeared to come. I could not but feel the strong winds of change that was causing the Institution to shiver with apprehension. I also noted just how firm was the wish to do things the way the public wanted them done and the signs of the beginning of a new approach. The changes that have taken place since then are worthy of their own awards and very much as I would have wanted to see them done. When asked how and when changes should take place, I volunteered to say “through a family and expert committee” which I must say, produced the sort of hands up and shrug shoulder response that often made me feel that I could not be taken seriously.
An outsider from the start.
Princess Diana could not show the way and was an outsider however much