Quotes from Mary Robertson

On Wednesday, September 3, I'd been awake at five in the morning for an interview with Charles Gibson on Good Morning, America. Apparently, I still hadn't accepted Diana's death because at the end of our talk Charles observed, "It's wonderful to hear you speaking about her in the present tense. Do you realize you've been doing that?" I hadn't been aware of this at all.

Diana always came to work bright-eyed, well rested, and on time. She'd told me she shared her flat with three other girls. While she did not offer many details about her social life, she said enough to give me a picture of a happy, relaxed young woman talking, giggling, and having fun with her roommates and other friends. It was clear that late hours, drinking, and serious boyfriends had no part in her life. She was a very wholesome, innocent young lady.

Though I dreaded the prospect of coping with the heartbreak of the funeral on my own, I felt I had to be there at the end, no matter what. We had been with Diana at the very beginning of the courtship. We had attended her wedding with tremendous joy. We had kept in touch ever since. I had to say good-bye to her in person. I said to Pat, "We were there for the 'wedding of the century.' This will be 'the funeral of the century.' Yes, I have to go.

Clearly, Diana did not want us to know who she was. We may possibly have been the only people Diana ever knew who had no idea who she was. We welcomed her into our home and trusted her with our child for what she was. This may have been one reason she stayed in touch with us over the years.

My only specific instructions were to keep him warm and dry and to guard him with her life when she took him out. "Patrick is the most important thing in the world to me. You'll understand when you're a mother yourself.

One morning Diana came to work with a Barbara Cartland romance novel tucked under her arm. Coincidentally, Ms. Cartland was the mother of the Earl of Spencer's second wife, Raine, whom I was to learn years later in the press the Spencer children had detested at first. I hoped that novel did not represent Diana's only reading interests.

She wrote, "I can never thank you enough, Mrs. Robertson, for being so kind and understanding with the whole of Fleet Street following me!!

With a big hug for Patrick and my mother and a promise from the local police to keep an eye on our house to prevent press harassment, Pat and I flew to London on July 24 for what might well be the most glamorous few days of our lives.

We waved our programs triumphantly at the usher who'd been so snappy to us earlier. He smiled back, relieved that the pressure of the funeral was over.

As Diana talked openly with my children and me, she made the statement that has defined her forever in my mind: "My boys mean everything to me. They're my life.

My companion had recently lunched with Diana at Kensington Palace. She said being with Diana was like "being brushed by angels' wings." I loved that phrase and will remember it always. I knew exactly what she meant. Diana's presence had a graceful, gentle, magical quality.

My companion had recently lunched with Diana at Kensington Palace. She said being with Diana was like "being brushed by angels' wings.

She had said she wanted to be a "princess for the world." The world's sorrow for her untimely death made it undeniably clear that she was, indeed, "the people's princess," as Tony Blair had so eloquently called her.

Others likened Diana to Jack Kennedy. Both had died too soon and too suddenly, cut down in their prime, to be remembered always as youthful and vibrant. One dear friend consoled me by saying, "Remember, Mary, she'll always be thirty-six, young and beautiful." Another close friend wrote, "We'll never know what she's been spared.

While Diana remained poised and calm in front of the press, in private she cared desperately about Prince Charles and the outcome of the courtship. She expressed her concern to me: "I will simply die if this doesn't work out. I won't be able to show my face.

As Pat and I made travel plans, we simply couldn't believe Diana had remembered us and invited us to what was already being called "the wedding of the century.

We never saw a single one of the other Americans. I had read they included Mrs. Reagan, her California friends Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale, the American ambassador, and only three or four others besides ourselves. The only person in the entire crowd we knew was Diana.

I breathed a sigh of relief once the mutual pledge of vows was over. At this point, stewards brought up red and gold benches so the new couple could sit down as the ceremony continued. Prince Charles and Diana also seemed relieved to have completed the critical part of the proceedings. We could see them smile at each other and exchange quiet comments to relieve the tension.

Diana held Patrick's hand and settled him on the sofa between herself and her husband. I sat facing them and the closed door to the hallway beyond. We all had a cool drink and continued to talk. I could hardly believe my eyes as I watched Patrick nestled on the sofa between the most famous couple in the world. As I carried on my conversation with the royal pair, I kept thinking, "I can't believe this! I simply can't believe this!

Pat and I, of course, could barely grasp that the Diana who'd been Patrick's beloved nanny three short months ago was destined to be the next queen of England. What a leap! From the nursery to the palace. Positively daunting.