What it was really like to be friends with Diana
Ahead of the unveiling of a new statue on the Princess s 60th birthday, one close friend recalls what she was like away from the spotlight
1 July 2021 • 5:00am
Princess Diana faces photographers as she leaves Luanda airport to board a plane to Johannesburg at the end of her four-day visit to Angola
Credit: AP
Lady Diana Spencer was 17 when we first met while skiing in Val Claret.
She knew several of the friends I was with, and they brought her back to our apartment when she twisted her ankle, telling her I would look at it as I was a medical student at the time. Good fun, bright and mischievous, it was hard not to hit it off with Diana straight away, and so began the friendship she and I maintained for the rest of her short, eventful life.