INTERVIEW – She is the star of Season 5 Episode 2 with her long beige trench coat and big glasses. From his home in Los Angeles, Andrew Morton gave us the lowdown on his relationship with Lady Diana, whose biography he wrote.
He is the only one who wrote Lady Dee’s biography with her permission. As he is ready to tell us, it was the adventure of his life. In 1986, Andrew Morton was among the journalists who covered the Princess of Wales’ visit to St Thomas’ Hospital in London. That day he met one of Diana’s best friends, Dr. James Colthurst, and they became friends. Everything else (book Diana. His true story, the glory and the fear) hinges on this unexpected meeting and their blossoming friendship. And it was worth an episode The crown . Season 5, episode 2, to be exact, focuses on the reporter and the behind-the-scenes look at her book, which led to Wells’ divorce and still raises questions today. An interview from Los Angeles with Diana, aka “Clark Kent,” author of a new book about the princess. Diana, in pursuit of love.
Miss Figaro. –In season 5 The crown, Peter Morgan continues to tell about the Windsors and especially delves into the marriage of Charles and Diana. What is its legitimacy on the subject? Is all this believable?
Andrew Morton. – I think it’s perfectly legitimate, yes, to stage one of the most spectacular periods in modern history, the 1990s in the Windsors. Even the Queen admitted that 1992 was her “annus horribilis”. And I think he tries to do it with a certain grace. It’s not just Charles and Diana’s wedding this Season 5; there’s also Anne and her romance with Tim Lawrence, Margaret and her past romance with Peter Townsend, and Fergie and Andrew. Frankly, he almost had too much material to entertain.
“Diana” played by Peter Morgan in the series and performed Elizabeth DebickiIs it a representative of someone you have worked closely with?
Honestly, I was almost shaking while watching episode 2. It was like a ghost. It’s like being in the same room with Diana years ago. I’m not easily impressed, but I was really shocked here. Seeing him express the answers to my questions on screen was like him doing it in person. For me, it is an extremely authentic portrait. He deserves a Golden Globe for his performance, he is mesmerizing.
Elizabeth Debic as Diana.
Andrew Morton
Season 2 chronicles the Windsors’ tumultuous 1991. Who were you then? where did you work? You already wereroyal guard“What do we call these journalists who follow the activities of the royal family?
I had already written ten books. Ironically, I was considered a “new sensation”, but I had already been a writer for a long time. My first book dedicated to Prince Andrew (Andrew: The Playboy Prince, Editor’s Note)came out in 1982. I also wrote a book on a royal yacht Britain for example, but also on Sarah Ferguson. So, in 1991 I was already an author, writing for several media outlets, a freelance journalist.
In the video “Diana was an icon respected around the world”
“Everything in this episode is true”
In the series, you are represented in a long beige jacket and thick glasses; you don’t look very smiling, and even rather gloomy. How do you find yourself?
Apart from Andrew Steele, the actor who plays me on screen, being much hairier than I am, my character as such seems principled, quite intuitive and kind to the princess that I was. Actually, I don’t feel too bad.
How did Peter Morgan approach you for the series?
I didn’t talk to him directly. I just got hired as a consultant on Season 5 Season 2. Specifically, they hijacked my brain to have all kinds of details. So I can say that everything said in this episode is true. I actually met James Colthurst at St Thomas’ Hospital the day Diana arrived. We had a good meal at La Barca restaurant, which by the way was not as good as it looks in the series… And what Diana says is also true.
Diana calls you “Clark Kent” in the series, and “one of the nicest” among the reporters. So is that true too?
Absolutely. “Clark Kent” because I’m 6’10 and had these big prescription glasses. He also called me Noah because “Prominent historian and authorr” (prominent historian and author, editor’s note)but of course it was a joke.
Your relationship with James Colthurst is not extensive in the series. How did you get him to tell you about Diana?
Due to the lack of time, the series goes over it rather quickly. When I meet him in the hospital, it’s 1986 or 1987. We have a cup of tea, I take her contact details and that’s it, I have no idea in my mind at the time. We keep in touch, start playing squash together, see each other for several years, during which he never talks about Diana. It is only at the end that he starts talking about it. And for Diana to start feeding her some information to give me cookies. This is where you begin to build a more professional relationship. We’ve kept in touch ever since. I was at his wedding, I am the godfather of one of his daughters… I also sent him a note to inform him about my adventures with Netlfix, but he is not registered on the platform, he cannot not see the series.
And did you keep in touch with Diana after the publication of the book?
The book came out in January 1992, and from then until they broke up, we were in regular contact, as much as our schedules allowed. Usually we called once a week, sometimes three. Back then we didn’t have WhatsApp and we had to be extremely discreet. With James, we then tried to help him, to guide him in what he was going to do next. We suggested that, for example, he should buy a house in the village, which would allow him to find peace for his children. He then wanted to move into a cottage on the family estate, this had been arranged with Charles Spencer, and then backed out, fearing a possible invasion of the estate.
By the time you get the first tape of Diana, you must have thought you had gold on your hands. But also dynamite…
The first tape James gave me I heard in a cafe in North London. I put my helmet on and it was like stepping into another world. I did not expect that at all. When Diana said she wasn’t feeling well about the interview, I thought she was going to tell me about her humanitarian work and stuff. But he was talking about bulimia, about Camilla, about his difficulties living in Kensington Palace. After a few minutes of listening to the first record, I felt like I had been admitted to a secret club. So my first feeling was not “I have gold in my hands” but “It’s dynamite and I’m going to prove it.”
That’s right, did you immediately believe what he was saying on the tapes? Didn’t you doubt his confidences?
To be honest, I didn’t immediately believe him, for the simple reason that I had met Prince Charles many times and found him absolutely charming and witty. At the time, it was hard to believe anything he said because, like everyone else, I believed their fairy tale. But then I looked closely at Charles’ behavior that year and realized that what he was saying was actually believable. One day, when Prince William had his skull fractured by another student at school and was taken to hospital, Prince Charles came but did not stay because he had a commitment at the Opera; Diana was left alone, worried sick. This may seem trivial, but it is a sequence of such seemingly insignificant actions that reflected everything he was going through.
Were you scared once you got hold of these tapes? Or fear the threat?
I was extremely nervous and so was Diana. I was contacted by Richard Kay (royal correspondent DailyMail:Ed), and in parallel, the famous photographer of the time, Arthur Edwards. They told me “be careful, they’re following you” because I had just written a few threads about Diana. Sunday Times in which I hit the bull every time. And then they broke into my office. With Diana, we used phone booths, not basic phones. So yes, I’ve had some pretty ominous times where I’ve been looking over my shoulder a lot and my life has been a bit like the royal version of the movie. President’s people.
Your book titled Diana, Her True Story, was explosive. It’s hard to imagine the storm you went through after its publication..
The crown doesn’t examine the barrage of post-publication reviews well enough. The press, the heads of major media, but also the deputies attacked me brutally. that Sunday Times was attacked. It was a very heated moment where it would have been easy for me to say “well, yes, I spoke to the princess”, but I had given her my word that I would never reveal our contract. So that every time he saw the queen, he would look her straight in the eyes and say, “this book has nothing to do with me.”
Can we say this is the adventure of a lifetime?
It is obvious. How many people on Earth have had such intimate confessions from the future Queen of England?
Diana, in pursuit of love By Andrew Morton, ed. Archipelago, August 2022.
Source: Le Figaro
